Star Wars: Refined Jedi Sight
by Zant's Pants
Summary: An AU where Grand Admiral Thrawn survives the assassination attempt by his bodyguard Ruhk at the Battle of Bilbringi. After being unfrozen by the chiss warlord, Ahsoka as well as Galen Marek find themselves blind and in a bind. Meanwhile, Luke searches for his father's apprentice(s) to help stop the Imperial advance on the New Republic.
1. Prologue

Disclaimer- I do not own Star Wars, all writing is for fun, not for profit.

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Prologue

Luke looked around at the distorted, desert landscape around him, sweat rolling down his cheek. The young Jedi looked up to see two Suns, one yellow and the other red. Luke sighed. "Tatooine," There was nothing much to see, just kilometers of dunes peppering the landscape, with mountains and hills in the distance. The Jedi looked down at his feet, then knelt and grabbed a handful of sand.

"Ben?" Luke called, expecting to see his old master. He called again, "Yoda?" Silence loomed, the only sound being the wind pushing sand against the distorted desert landscape. Luke tightened his grip around the sand, eyes now fixed on the coarse granules.

"I never liked sand," said a not-so-familiar voice, coming from behind Luke.

He turned to see who it was that was talking to him in this forsaken piece of desert planet. It was a young man in a black Jedi tunic. He had long brown hair, a scar on his right eye, and wore a small smile on his face. Luke squinted his eyes at him. "Who are you?" Luke said.

"You don't recognize me?" the man laughed. The man had blue eyes which were bright but somewhat dour.

"No," replied Luke, un-squinting his eyes and putting his right hand on his hip, "Should I?"

"I am your father," he shook his head, "but I suppose you wouldn't recognize me, because I wore a mask your entire life."

Luke pulled back slightly. "Oh! "I'm… sorry. I didn't know it was you."

"No, offense taken," said Anakin, waving a dismissive hand. "I have something to tell you."

Luke looked around again, feeling the sand still in his left hand. "So, this is a dream? Or vision?"

"A little of both," Anakin mused, tucking his hands into his sleeves like a sage, "I have come to warn you about a growing threat." The elder Skywalker looked off, as if to see something in the distance. "And to get your help with a problem with an old apprentice of mine."

"An apprentice, huh?" Luke asked, pouring the sand out of his organic hand, cybernetic still on his right hip.

"Yes," the phantom said nodding, "two actually."

"Two?" said Luke, staring at his father with eyebrows lifted. "You had two Sith Apprentices?

The older Skywalker looked down at the ground dourly, eyebrows furrowed. "One is a former Sith. The other is a former Jedi who turned away from the order." He lifted his eyes back to Luke. "I need you to try and save them."

"Save them?" Luke exclaimed, "Who are they, where are they from, what should I know about them?"

The deceased Skywalker gave a pained look. "I can't tell you that… I hope you understand?"

Luke let out a sigh. "Yes, I know it is not your choice to make."

"You are a Jedi and a Skywalker Luke. You can do anything you set your mind to," Anakin assured, then placed a hand on his son's shoulder. "I believe in you. You have exceeded my expectations on many occasions."

"Thank you," Luke gave a warm smile. "Can you at least tell me where I need to go?"

Anakin matched his son's smile. "Don't worry, son. You will know when the time is right."

Luke slumped a little, "that's about what I expected."

The father Skywalker gave a snicker, then turned, then stopped. "Oh, one more thing," Anakin said, "Make sure to tell **her** … I'm proud of you, Snips."

Luke lifted an eyebrow then just nodded and replied, "I will."

"Goodbye, my son."

First Anakin started to fade away, then the landscape became dark. Suddenly, Luke woke up.

He was laying in his bed on Coruscant, sweating profusely. There were dull lights dancing around the room, it seemed less vibrant than usual. He decided to go to the roof of the Imperial Palace; one of his favorite places to be while in the capital. The lights of the city and the spectacular view gave him an upbeat feeling for being in such a grand place, rather than setting in his room meditating, like he often did.

He slipped on his Jedi robe and some slippers, attached his Lightsaber to his belt, then went to the elevator down the hall. When he arrived at the top of the Palace, there was a thick fog that protruded all over the city. The lights of Coruscant were muddled by a thick haze that barely showed the bright neon colors, for which it was known. "So much for the view," Luke muttered to himself. He walked over to the edge, and leaned on the guardrail. He looked at the haze to see the lights and at least hear the people. The sound of speeders going by filled the air, but there wasn't a sign of them; only fog and hazy lights. Luke blew some hair out of his face.

After meeting with his father for this brief encounter, Luke felt a singe of pain in his chest. His father talked to Luke like he was almost a stranger, and yet he wanted him to tell this "Snips" that he is proud of her?

"What kind of name is Snips?" he asked himself.

He looked up into the cloudy sky, which was gray like the city below it. Luke tried to imagine Darth Vader calling an Apprentice "Snips." Luke chuckled. _Maybe it was a code, or nickname?_ he thought to himself, _or maybe he was talking about Leia?_ He doubted it; his father knew less about Leia than he did about Luke. They never even met to Luke's knowledge.

The elevator door to the roof slid open behind Luke; he didn't have to look to know who it was. "Hey there, Master Jedi," said Han Solo as he came to stand next to Luke. "Enjoying the weather?"

Luke gave a reserved smile, "as much as one can enjoy it."

The ex-smuggler turned to his friend. "Say," Han mused, "Can't you…?" He made a shewing motion with his hands toward the city.

"Can I, what?" asked Luke, one brow cocked, "force the fog away?"

"Yeah!" he said, His eyebrows shot up, lifting a hand as if to pull an answer from the young Jedi.

"I don't think so," Luke replied, "There are some things that are out of a Jedi's control."

"Ah," the ex-smuggler said, pivoting to rest his back on the guardrail. "You can sense things pretty well. How is Leia?"

Luke looked at his friend. "She's mad at you."

Han pulled back a little in surprise, "you can sense it that quickly?

"I don't have to," said Luke, still smiling. "I just thought through it logically. Why else would you be up here alone?"

Han gave a hurt look. "Can't I be on the roof of the New Republic headquarters on a foggy day just to look at some scenery?" They both laughed, looking out at the misty city.

"What is she mad about?" asked Luke, looking at his brother-in-law.

"The usual," Han said, brushing a hand through his brown hair. "Don't spend enough time with the babies, never am around, always out gallivanting in smuggler's dens."

 _You no good, scruffy looking, nerf herder!_ Came to Luke's mind, which brightened his smile even wider.

"What?" asked Han, eyes directed back towards his friend.

Luke rolled his eyes, "She is just concerned for you and wants the best for the kids."

"I know," Han retorted, placing his flat, open palms in front of his chest. "But what did she expect when she got with a smuggler like me? Did she think I would become a house maid for her?"

Luke chuckled a little. "You are feeling a little domesticated, huh?"

Han pointed a finger at Luke, frowning his face a little, "exactly!"

"Well," Luke started, "just tell her how you fee-." The conversation was interrupted by the beeping of a comlink on Han's belt. "Is she calling you?"

"I don't think so," Han said, "She is giving me the silent treatment right now, so it's unlikely." He pulled the device from his belt and brought it to his mouth. "Han here," he said.

"Han Solo," a gruff voice started, "you wouldn't happen to know where Master Luke is, would you?"

"Admiral Ackbar," Han groaned, "how did you get the code to my comlink? I've changed it several times since we last spoke."

A gargled scoff came from the device, "That is of little significance. Have you seen Master Skywalker, recently? He is not picking up our call."

With a small sigh, Han finally relented, "yeah, I know where he is. Want me to give him a message?"

The voice on the other side of the comlink stumbled a bit, "Uh, Y-Yes I want you to give him a message! Tell him that Military Intelligence needs to speak with him! Have him meet us in the war room. Understood?"

"Aye-Aye, Admiral," said Han sardonically, then turned off the comlink before the Admiral had any time to bark out more orders.

Luke pulled himself away from the guardrail. "Well, looks like I have some work to do."

"Yeah," said Han rolling his eyes, "good luck with that. Let me know how it goes."


	2. Chapter 1

Chapter 1

Captain Gilad Pellaeon walked down the hallway toward the blast door of the command room. The aged captain came to a halt in front of the command room's hatch. He put a gloved hand to his throat, which had just recently become almost free of pain; the discomfort in his neck bringing back memories of that wretched Noghri Rukh. The wound gave an aching pain that made it a chore to breath properly. Nevertheless, Gilad straightened his belt, and tunic to make himself presentable. He pressed the hatch's entrance button.

Grand Admiral Thrawn stared out the viewport at the small, black and red planet in front of him, holding a data pad in his left hand while leaning on his cane with his right. On either side of the Chimera where two Katana class heavy cruisers forming a defensive perimeter around the star destroyer. On either side of the command bridge there were pits, where officers worked at computers to control the operations of the ship. Pellaeon marched forward atop the command bridge toward his commanding officer.

 _Mustafar,_ Pellaeon thought, _I wonder what we are here for; Aluminum for the mess hall_? He gave a stern look at nearby com controller, who stiffened in his seat at the glare of his commanding officer.

"How are you feeling, Captain?" The Chiss asked, his front still facing the viewport. The Grand Admiral shifting weight onto the cane as he held a data pad in his left hand.

"My throat is a little sore, but I will manage," said Pellaeon, coming to a halt just to the right of the Grand Admiral. "A better question would be, how are you, Admiral Thrawn?"

Silenced hung for a few seconds. "I'm superb," the commanding officer said flatly, still looking at the data pad.

"Permission to speak freely sir?"

"Granted." The Chiss handing the data pad to a nearby ensign.

"Why are we sending three squads of stormtroopers to Mustafar; a planet of not only diminutive size but equally diminutive significance? I mean, what have we to gain here?" The aged captain folded his arms while staring at the tiny planetary body. Before the battle of Endor, Captain Pellaeon might have been asphyxiated by the likes of Darth Vader for questioning the command of a superior. As the Captain of an imperial star destroyer, he wasn't his place to think except when it came to operations pretaining to the _Chimera_.

Thrawn turned, his glowing red eyes bright as ever, blue-black eyebrows raised slightly, the smallest hint of a smile on his face. "Patience, Captain. All will be revealed in due time."

Pellaeon continued to stare through the viewport at the volcanic planet, eyes narrowed in frustration. He closed his eyes. He took a deep breath through his nostrils, then pursed his lips to give an exhale. "I trust your judgment Grand Admiral… I just wish I wasn't left in the dark on such matters."

Thrawn turned to look out the viewport as well. "My condolences Captain Pellaeon, however you will not be "left in the dark" for much longer."

The blast door to the command room opened again, and Pellaeon turned to see. It was Lieutenant Tschel; the bridge officer for the _Chimera_. The young officer marched straight forward and came to a stern halt two meters behind them and saluted. "Captain," Tschel said, "the troop transport is ready for departure."

Gilad's Mustache perked up a bit around the edges. "Thank you, Lieutenant Tschel. I trust the Ysalamiri have been brought aboard as well?"

"Yes, sir," the young officer confirmed.

"Thank you, Lieutenant."

"Excellent," remarked Thrawn, "we shall depart in the troop transport once we are within ten kilometers of the target area. Captain Pellaeon, bring the Chimera down to orbit. Lieutenant, as the Bridge Officer, you shall oversee the _Chimera_ until we return. Understood?"

"Yes, sir."

"Dismissed."

Tschel performed an about face, then marched back toward the hatch. Young Tschel had come a long way from the days when he was first assigned to Thrawn's flagship. Once the young officer had yelled news about the front down the portside crew pit, and now he was a good a bridge officer as Pellaeon had ever seen.

Thrawn turned back to look out of the viewport again, leaning on his cane with both hands now. His red eyes a reflection of the tiny, red planet in front of him. "Beautiful, isn't it?"

Pellaeon, of late, had ceased to pretend to share the Grand Admiral's love of art. "I'm afraid it's my cup tea, Admiral."

Thrawn glanced toward his subordinate officer. "My apologies, Captain. I forget not everyone is able to appreciate art as I do." 

Turbulence rocked the Lambda-class T-4 Shuttle as it flew down towards the surface of Mustafar. After the craft came below the clouds, the flight got a little less shaky. Captain Pellaeon looked out the viewport. Large lakes of lave flowed as far as the eye could see, while mountains and volcanoes jutted from the lakes of Brimstone. Then the gray-haired officer saw what they have come to this God-forsaken planet for; roughly three kilometers away, a massive tower perched on the top of a natural, rocky dam came into the field of vision. It wasn't hard to spot with the picturesque waterfall of molten rock flowing from the bottom of the dark castle.

"A Sith Temple!" Pellaeon exclaimed, his mouth falling open. "So, this is your plan, is it? Hasn't this Empire had quiet enough of Sorcerers in our midst!"

"It is not a Sith Temple," Thrawn replied swiveling toward Pellaeon in his chair. "It is the home of the Sith lord Darth Vader."

Pellaeon turned to Thrawn, "Even more reason why we shouldn't go!"

The chiss looked at the gray-haired officer, anger showing in his alien face. "Is that how an officer in the Imperial Navy speaks to his commanding officer?" His voice was like ice.

Pellaeon slumped back into his chair, his face flustered. "My apologies, sir."

The Grand Admiral made an inviting gesture to the aged Captain, "if you have any objections on why we shouldn't we go into Vader's castle?"

Pellaeon's mouth dropped a second time, his eyes going wide. The Captain licked his dry lips and cleared his throat, which had suddenly felt a little more rough than usual "…Why shouldn't we go into Lord Vader's castle? Because it is dangerous and most likely more boobytrapped than a smugglers den! Not to mention the Sith occultists who make pilgrimages to places like these." The gray-haired officer folded is arms. "And I simply cannot fathom why you would want more Sorcery in our midst. Do you not remember the damage Master C'baoth did?"

Grand Admiral Thrawn placed one hand over the wrist of the other, still sitting in his chair. Thrawn spoke, his fiery red eyes burning through the aged Capitan's.

"Yes, sir," Pellaeon said, deflating back into his chair. The ship was only a few hundred meters from the landing platform on the eastern wing of the castle. Pellaeon looked back to his commanding officer. "I believe force sensitives aren't the solution to defeating the New Republic."

Thrawn raised an eyebrow, his mood lightening a bit, "and you think I do?"

"Yes. I do, sir," Captain Pellaeon retorted, the craft slowly reducing height as the turbolifts power lessened.

Thrawn nodded slightly. "A force wielder is like an engineer or a sapper, Captain. A specialized soldier for specialized tasks."

The shuttle landed on the rocky platform; its wings folding upward, and turbolifts powering down. The boarding ramp slid down with stormtroopers marching down it once it touched the rocky floor. After the perimeter was checked, Thrawn and Captain Pellaeon walked out onto the obsidian platform; the Grand Admiral wore a Ysalamiri with a nutrient frame upon it. Thrawn made a hand gesture, giving the order to move in to the castle's side entrance.

Thrawn and Pellaeon walked behind the two columns of twenty stormtroopers, the chiss shifting his weight on his cane as he walked. Pellaeon inspected the imperial soldiers in front of him. The soldiers wore typical imperial stormtrooper armor, but several were holding E-11 blasters with shotgun barrels. The rest of the troops had typical E-11 blasters with two of the rear troopers sporting backpacks.

Around fifty meters from the launch pad was the natural, obsidian lava-dam. The obsidian had been cut with some form of machinery to create a straight path to the castle, leading up to a massive blast door. By the time the troopers were ten meters away, Thrawn gave the order to stop.

"Get some satchel charges on that door!" Pellaeon shouted, pointing a finger at the gargantuan hatch.

The two rear stormtroopers with backpacks moved to the front of the line, then to either side of the giant blast door. Out of the backpacks, the troopers produced several demolition satchels, and placed them on the key points of the door. Thrawn, Pellaeon, and the other eighteen troopers moved several meters to the left and right of the doorway, taking cover from the impending blast. The two sapper troopers detonated the satchels. A large explosion rang out. The sound of metal scraping, along with the concussive blast, rang in Pellaeon's ears which had been plugged with his index fingers.

Pellaeon, still hunched, gave the order for the stormtroopers to enter the black fortress. Several of the closest troopers moved in to the doorway with the other troopers right behind. The Chiss and grey-haired Captain followed behind, with the sapper troopers taking up the rear after producing compact, heavy blaster from their bags. Once Pellaeon stepped through the breached, blast door, paused for the briefest moment. It was pure darkness, aside from the light provided by the lava that glowed in from the breached doorway. The inside of the castle had a long stretch to the end of the hall, blood red carpet and black, volcanic rock pillars throughout the room. Across the hall was another large blast door, roughly 100 meters from where the troopers had breached.

"Flashlights on!" Pellaeon barked.

The stormtroopers attached their flashlights to the bottom of their blasters, and walked forward in their two columns, scanning the room. The satchel troopers walking backwards to make sure no surprises caught them from behind.

Thrawn pulled a flashlight from his belt and flashed it to all corners of the room, then to the ceiling. "Notice anything, Captain?"

"Sir?" Pellaeon asked, still uneasily scanning the room for hidden dangers. There was a lump in Pellaeon's scarred throat.

"The defense systems, they have been destroyed," the chiss stated, pointing his light at the front-right corner of the hallway.

The Captain looked at where Thrawn was shining his light. There was an auto-turret that, from the look of it, had been destroyed. Thrawn shone his light to another corner and another. Destroyed auto-turrets littered the ceiling of the hall. "Anything of note about those automatic turrets?" the Grand Admiral asked, leaning on his cane as he walked, kept pace behind the two columns of stormtroopers. The columns had almost reached the opposing side blast doors now.

Captain Pellaeon pulled out his flashlight and shone it to the left side auto-turret. The barrel was slanted off to the right, with a large hole through the right side of the gun's right side. "A heavy Blaster was perhaps used?"

"Perhaps," said Thrawn stroking the Ysalamiri around his neck with his non-cane hand.

Captain Pellaeon knew that wasn't the answer his Admiral was looking for. Pellaeon just could not make out how this turret was destroyed. He shone his light to the right side. This auto-turret was cut in half, a large slash down the middle. "A lightsaber," stated Pellaeon, tightening his grip on the flashlight. "I had hoped this place had just been ransacked by pirates."

The Stormtroopers reached the blast door, sapper troopers kneeling to place charges on the hatch. "Alright men, get into breaching posit-." The large blast door slid open, cutting Pellaeon orders off short. The sapper troopers froze in surprise, while the other eighteen soldiers lifted their Blasters straight at the door, forming into a defensive perimeter around Thrawn and Pellaeon.

A dark-red RA-7 protocol droid stepped through the blast door. The imperial protocol droid scanned the room of troopers. It finally rested its large mechanical eyes on Thrawn. "Who are you, and what is your authorization?" it said.

Thrawn and Pellaeon exchanged glances. "We are here to inspect Darth Vader's castle. I am Grand Admiral Thrawn." The chiss leaned on this cane with his right hand and pulled an officer's cylinder from his uniform with his left. A Stormtrooper took the cylinder from is hand and handed it to the droid.

The droid grabbed the cylinder and connected it to an access port on its chest. After a few seconds, the droid responded. "Welcome Grand Admiral Thrawn. I am RA-7DE, at your service," then moved to the left-hand side of the blast door.

The imperial troops still had their blasters trained on the droid. "Perhaps RA-7DE should go first?" said Pellaeon.

"Yes, I think that wise, as well," said Thrawn, eyes studying the dark-red Automaton.

The droid turned to the imperials. "If you insist," it stated, then walked through the hatch. The imperials followed behind the droid, the Grand Admiral bringing up the rear with his cane for assistance.

"Sir," Pellaeon whispered, "We could be heading into a trap." The aged captain's eyes scanning the new room as they walked through the blast door. Once the two officers walked through the hatch, they came to a wide-open room, with a large, liquid filled Bacta tank in the center of the room.

"Who has been here?" commanded Thrawn, staring at the additional auto turrets that were dismantled in the corners of the large room.

The Ra-7 droid stopped. "It was a Jedi…" it paused.

"Master Skywalker?" the Chiss remarked.

"Yes," the droid said, turning around to face the imperials. The Stormtrooper's retrained their weapons on the droid. "He was looking for some… artifacts, I believe."

"You believe," the Grand Admiral stated, a hand on his chin, inspecting the turrets, floor and finally the droid. "What did he find?" the Chiss' eyes fixed on the droid.

"He took a couple Jedi holocrons, then left," The robot said mechanically, looking directly at Thrawn.

"Is there anything left here of importance?" asked Captain Pellaeon. The imperial officer lifting a finger to point at the droid.

"That depends on what one considers important," stated the automaton, an open, robotic hand gesturing to the officer.

Pellaeon's mouth fell open. "Did that droid make a snide comment at me?" the captain's face turning red, his hand raised in a fist now. "See here, you… rusty tin-can!"

"RA-7RE," Thrawn interjected, "Show me what Vader would find important. That is an order." The chiss' voice calm but firm.

"Yes, Admiral," the droid said, mechanically walking went to a nearby holo-terminal. The RA-7 unit inserted Thrawn's officer's cylinder into a terminal. The Cylinder interacted with the terminal for a couple of seconds, then the wall to the right of the terminal slid open. Where there was a several cubic meters of inky-black, carved-stone wall, now three slabs of carbonite lay. Resting inside the carbonite were two humans and a humanoid alien, frozen in time.

Just then, Thrawn pulled put a blaster from his left-hand side and shot the droid in the head twice. The automaton fell to the ground limp.

"What in blazes!" a bewildered Capitan Pellaeon bellowed, "what was that for?!"

"Your instincts were correct, Captain," said Thrawn, then pointed to of the closest Stormtroopers to the droid, "Check the droid for monitoring devices." The imperial soldiers seized the machine, hardly a struggle from the not-so-nimble protocol droid. After a quick search, produced an audio transmitter from the right shoulder of the cybernetic being.

The Chiss, whirling to face his radioman, "inform the engineers on the troop transport that we are going to need these Carbonite slabs taken back to the _Chimera_ on the double." The Grand Admiral looked at the humanoid, female frozen in carbonite, his eyes a-light. "The rebels will be here soon."


	3. Chapter 2

Chapter 2

Grand Admiral Thrawn stared at his tactical display from the lambda class transport ship. Enemy ships surrounding the Chimera in a large semi-circle formation just outside the effective range of the Chimera's turbolasers and ion canons. Several heavy cruisers, transport ships, frigates and other smaller ships made up the formation. Pellaeon sat in the seat beside his commanding officer, beads of sweat forming on his forehead.

"Sir, should we make a break for it?" asked the grey-haired captain. "We seem to be in a hopeless situation. I don't want to allow the rebels to destroy our flagship, but it looks like that is unavoidable now."

"We won't be able to escape," remarked the chiss, glowing red eyes still on the holographic readout.

Pellaeon mouth fell open for a few seconds. "Can't? Sir, why can't we just fly to the other side of the planet and make a jump to hyperspace? We could jump to hyperspace in infinite directions!" The Pellaeon waved a hand out towards the starboard side viewport.

Thrawn swiveled in his chair to face his subordinate officer. "Several of those capital ships have gravity wells, and it can be assured that there are several ships are on the planet's periphery to catch any fleeing imperial star-craft. They will halt any attempt for us to jettison to lightspeed."

Pellaeon looked down at his fists clinched to his knees. In his over fifty years of imperial service, he had never been in such dire straights before. "Damn it," He growled under his breath, gnashing his teeth in frustration.

The transport ship docked with the Grand Admiral's flagship without harassment from the hostile ships. When the transport landed, there was an uneasiness in the air. Thrawn walked, cane in hand, leisurely down the hallways toward his command room. Worried faces of the crew turned to surprise as the Grand Admiral confidently strode toward his command post. Captain Pellaeon was not far behind his commanding officer, almost as astonished as the other men.

"Admiral?" Captain Pellaeon let out when they left the hanger bay, stiffly and impatiently walking behind his commanding officer.

"Yes, Captain?"

"Why in the empire are you walking so calmly? There are no less than five capital ships in sight, with turbolasers trained on us, not to mention assault frigates and corvettes," the aged officer loud-whispered.

"I understand the situation, Captain."

Gilad missed a step, then quickly walked to catch up to his superior officer. He wanted to voice his concerns, but the confident, cane-aided stride of the Grand Admiral put ease into him. Captain Pellaeon felt somewhat more relaxed, but still, beads of sweat dotted his forehead. Before long, the two head officers where at the bridge of the _Chimera._

When Thrawn and Captain Pellaeon stepped the blast door the tension in the bridge could be cut with a knife. All eyes were on the Grand Admiral Thrawn, who strode casually to the end of the catwalk. At the end of the bridge stood Lieutenant Tschel, worry shrouding his face like a shadow. Grand Ad-m-miral," he choked out, "the enemy has us surrounded f-frrom all sides."

Once Thrawn had gotten to the end of the bridge where the Lieutenant was standing, he put up a gloved hand. "At ease. Calm yourself Lt. Tschel, anxiety betrays you. Take a deep breath."

"Aye sir," he confirmed. Tschel inhaled through is nose, then purged his lips to let out a small breath. The whole bridge could be heard doing the same.

"Now," Thrawn ordered, staring out of the viewport, "situation report."

"Aye, sir." Tschel confirmed, "we have precisely five MC80 Star Cruisers, eight Nebulon-B escort frigates, approximately twenty corvettes and approximately ten weapons-fitted transport ships of varying sizes…oh and two of the rear transports have gravity wells attached… Also, our sensors indicate that there are at least three capital ships weighting far off from the flanks of the encirclement to anything that tries to escape." Lt. Tschel slumped a bit more, "unfortunately the only reinforcements in the area are the Star destroyers _Stormhawk_ and the _Judicator_ , along with around four Katana dreadnaughts. All other ships are two far to be of any assistance… That is, IF we could contact them for help; they have severed our communications completely."

Thrawn looked at the viewport, leaning on his cane. "They haven't attacked yet… do you know why?"

Tschel looked off at the surrounding enemy fleet, the look of worry being replaced by bewilderment. "No, sir," said the young officer.

Thrawn turned his head to the right slightly, a hint of his glowing red eye showing, "do you captain?"

The aged officer looked down squinting in concentration. "They are wanting to strike fear into us?"

"Precisely," the Chiss smiled, "we have a very capable opponent, who understands the value of psychology in warfare."

Understanding came over the young lieutenant's face, as well as many of the eavesdropping officers in the pit of the bridge. It was hopeless, and to boot, the enemy was rubbing salt on the wound. Captain Pellaeon clinched his fists at his side. A rage that Gilad had not felt since the defeat at Endor swept him. Why? Was this the last gasp of a dying empire? Was his decades of service and preservation of the Grand Admiral after the Battle of Bilbringi all made useless here?

A red flashed on the overhead com. "Sir!" came a voice from the head communications officer. "We are receiving an incoming transmission from the enemy flagship!"

Thrawn walked over to the holo-display at the center of the bridge. "Put them through," he ordered, putting his cane ender his folded, gloved hands in front of him. The rest of the crew watching what was about to take place, but kept their heads at their displays. In front of the Grand Admiral came a blue hologram, taller than Thrawn by roughly a quarter meter. It was a Vurk dressed in a rebel uniform, a commander's patch jutting from the left breast. He had a long head crest and bulbous eyes common of aquatic species.

The Vurk started by placing his three-digit hands on his hips, _like some manager of a mineral mine, talking to an underperforming worker,_ Pellaeon thought. Never had he ever seen someone take such an insolent stance in front of an imperial officer, let alone a Grand Admiral. _Rebel Scum_.

"I am Commander Hadros of the New Republic," stated the amphibious alien in a deep voice, strange pronunciation of the 'R' consonant. "It seems you have been caught wondering away from your fleet."

Thrawn smiled slightly, his red glowing eyes studying the projection's every move. "Commander Hadros," he let out, "it is interesting that they would send a commander rather than an admiral or at least a vice admiral to attack the _Chimera_. Wouldn't you agree?"

The Vurk tilted his head back and let out something akin to a barking laugh. "A commander is all that is needed." Hadros lifted his right hand to his bill and cleared his throat. "I don't need to tell you that you are surrounded, and cut off from any reinforcements…" he trailed off, staring at the Chiss. The amphibious alien craned his neck a little, then brought his head back to its original position, bulbous eyes scanning Thrawn. The chiss just smiled.

"You know that there is no escape!" Cdr. Hadros barked, taking a balled three-digit fist and bringing it down in a smashing motion to the other outstretched hand. Silence filled the room. Not one of the bridge officers blinked. Captain Pellaeon looked at his commanding officer; Glowing eyes now fixed on those of the Vurk. The holo-projection craned his neck again, and then a second time. He titled his head to the right, and stared the Chiss up and down, breathing getting noticeably heavier, then let out a grunt. "If you will not surrender…" the projection started, eyes fixed on those scarlet ambers of Thrawn's, "… then you will DIE."

Thrawn, still smiling, turned to his communications officer and gave the signal to end the transmission. The Vurk jolted back in surprise just before the transmission ended.

The Grand Admiral turned to his communications officer in the port side trench of the bridge. The chiss' face grew a little more serious. "a jammer has been activated since the rebels' arrival. Can we intercept the enemy's transmissions?" he asked.

The communications officer looked down at a display, a subordinate moving out of his way to give the officer room. The officer studied the data terminal, then confirmed. "Yes, Admiral."

Thrawn bowed his head slightly. "Thank you. Send it to my personal comm-display." The officer confirmed again. "Lieutenant Tschel?"

The young officer looked up to Thrawn. "Yes, Admiral?"

"Give the signal to prepare all available missiles for launch at the New Republic flagship…. I have some special equipment to be added to a few of them though."

Tschel went wide eyed looking out at the MC80 Star cruiser. "But… we don't have enough to knock out…"

Grand Admiral Thrawn turned to directly face his bridge officer, scarlet eyes fixated on the young man. Lt. Tschel went tense, the look on his superior's face was sharp as blades. "You don't have to understand, only **obey**."

The two walked through the door into the security room. Admiral Ackbar and other council members were talking to a Vurk Officer, a tactical display showing a small planet with a red colored star destroyer and two katana fleet dreadnaughts encircled by no less than thirty-star ships. Borsk Fey'lya was present, setting arms crossed and arguing in his Bothan-polite way with Ackbar on whether to use U-Wing bombers or just charge in turbo-lasers blazing with their capital ships; Borsk preferred the later.

"We have him cornered!" bellowed the mon calamari Admiral, "We have enough X-Wings, A-Wings and U-Wings to blow those ships out of existence!"

Fey'lya's eyes widened a bit, fur rippling in mild surprise. "We have enough capital ships to blow them out of existence. Why should we risk the lives of our starship pilots when we heavily shielded cruisers out there?"

Ackbar blinked. "Because Thrawn is a crafty one; he will try something, and we need to have those cruisers on the ready if he tries to slip away with one of his tricks," he put one webbed finger on the table, glowering at the polite, but not so friendly Bothan leader. The mon calamari sighed. "I still think it should be me out there staring down that blue bastard myself. Hadros is more than competent, and his species aren't well known in the galaxy, but still… Thrawn is known for being a hat trick."

Luke and Han sat on either side of Leia at the far end of the table. Solo leaned over to his wife, "what's the situation?" He gave a glance around the room, "and where is Iblis?

Leia leaned over to Han, not taking her eyes off the debate ragging between Borsk and Ackbar. "You're late."

"Well…. were you expecting me to be early?" he whispered rhetorically.

Leia turned her eyes from the two bickering officials to Luke, "Grand Admiral Thrawn is cornered at Mustafar. He can't jump to light speed because of our interdictors." She smiled a bit. "This could be our chance to cut off the head of the empire once and for all."

Luke eyebrows shot up. _Grand Admiral Thrawn?_ Luke thought. The Chiss had only surfaced for roughly a year but had made a monumental impact in that short time frame. He was a brilliant strategist who could learn about his enemy from the smallest details. He was a experienced leader, a excellent tactician and a grand pain in the backside of the New Republic. If they could capture or kill Thrawn, the days of the empire would be numbered. He smiled to himself, _some good news, finally_.

"Maybe we should ask Commander Hadros as to what the best option is?" Fey'lya said in a thinly masked tone of irritation.

"Perhaps we sho-!" the Admiral stopped mid-retort

A red flash illuminated from the tactical, and several dozen red lines came from the _Chimera_. The Vurk hologram fell silent, then keyed off. "What is going on?" said Admiral Ackbar.

"Missiles," Borsk Fey'lya uttered, eyes widening. "They are perhaps trying to take out some of the smaller ships?"

"Maybe he has nuclear ordinance!?" Mon Mothma exclaimed.

The red lines drew closer and closer to the new republic ships, occasionally changing vectors ever so slightly. The council sat at the edge of their seats watching with worry and dread as the red lines drew closer and closer to the New Republic fleet. The red lines came right to where the closest capital ships were, then kept going. The missiles flew farther and farther away from the blockade, out into open space.

Luke blinked. _What in the name of the force was going on?_

A load siren sounded from the display. "What is that? It doesn't sound like one of our distress beacons," said Leia. She looked at Ackbar for confirmation; he was looking down eyes fixed on the table, concentrating on the sound too. The blood drained out of her face with the realization. "That's an imperial distress beacon; they got an SOS past our jammers."


	4. Chapter 3

Ch. 3

C3PO knocked on the door of Luke's room, a clang, clang, clang ringing out from the sound of metal on metal. then stood for a few seconds in silence. "Master Luke?" he called, "are you there?"

No response. The droid knocked again on the metal door, harder this time. "Master Luke?" Silence filled the hallway. "Well… I guess he must not be in his room," he said to himself. "Where… could he… be?"

The door slid open abruptly and Mara Jade wore a plum colored robe and the sleepy scowl of a big cat that had been prematurely wakened from hibernation. 3PO jutted back in surprise. "What is all this racket?" Mara loud whispered, rubbing her half-bloodshot eyes, "are you insane?"

"Oh, Mara!" C3PO exclaimed, "I am sorry for waking you. I am trying to find Master Luke." He looked at the door, then to Mara, then back at the door again. "I thought this was Luke's room."

"This IS Luke's room." Mara said, folding her arms.

3PO jolted a bit in surprise. "It is?" He looked back at the room, then back to Mara again. "Oh! I will talk to Luke in the morning then. I apologize for my rudeness." Then started to waddle off.

"He's not here, either," Mara said with an eyeroll. "He let me stay in his room and he took the guest room I was staying in." She shifted her weight from her left leg to the other. "I couldn't stand being in the next room over from Calrissian."

C3PO sat there for a second, processing the data he had just heard. Since the day he had met Lando Calrissian he had had a wary feeling about him. Perhaps Mara had felt the same vibe from the smuggler. "Oh… well… I'm sorry to hear that. You know the Lando fellow is a nice man wants you get to know him. He isn't as much of a scoundrel as he seems."

"Uh-huh," the red-haired woman replied, taping a finger on the button to close the door, just light enough that it didn't activate but still audible to the other listener.

"Anyway…. I'd best go to your old, guest bedroom then." The droid said, metallic joints a bit with a small hand gesture

Mara smiled sardonically, "yes, you'd best." She hit the switch to the door, and it closed in front of the golden protocol droid.

Everyone in the war room just stared at the tactical display in disbelief. Before, there had been the one enemy star destroyer along with two katana-class dreadnaughts, surrounded by no less than thirty New Republic ships. Now there were two new ISDs, along with four katana dreadnaughts and several corvettes at the rear of the New republics blockade. The newly arrived Imperials were hammering the gravity-welled transports; they were, not-so-coincidentally, were the only thing keeping Thrawn from make a quick escape.

Luke's stomach turned. _Weeks of planning… gone_. Luke had worked with Baal Iblis and Ackbar to craft this plan to capture Grand Admiral Thrawn, and he had personally directed the task force to infiltrate Darth Vader's castle. He had went through that layer, both teaming with the dark side but also filled crazy Sith worshipers. Now, they were on the cusp of that Imperial warlords capture, and he was springing a trap on them.

Luke let a breath. Every time they thought they had him, that Grand Admiral slipped through their grip like a greased up womp rat. He smiled. _Now I know how the imps felt when they were after me._

Borsk broke the silence first. "Ready all available bombers to do a run on the flag ship!" he exclaimed, slamming a fist on the table. Two Nebulon-Bs blinked off the display.

"The bombers and their escorts have already been diminished by Thrawn's TIE fighter screen!" bellowed Ackbar, "We need those X-Wings and A wings to keep the _Judicator_ and _Stormhawk_ preoccupied! Then we can move our ships up to take the _Chimera_ out."

The Bothan's fur rippled with surprise, whiskers twitching in frustration. "Fine! Do whatever! Just make sure that blue bastard doesn't escape." Fey'lya sank back into his chair.

Ackbar gave the order, through the long range comm link. They waited several seconds, and no response came back. "Commander Hadros? Do you copy?" the Mon Calamari said into the comm. Still no response. "Damn!" Ackbar spit out. "Now they are jamming OUR transmission."

One of the Interdictor-transports bleeped off the screen. "Of course," Borsk snorted.

Everyone in the room looked at Fey'lya. "Of course, what?" Han shot from across the table.

Fey'lya rested a hand on one of his furry cheeks. "Of course, commander Hadros was not a good man for the job. He could move forward to engage the _Chimera,_ but he doesn't. He could have sent bombers to try and take out the _Chimera_ 's shields, but he doesn't." He put up a clawed finger. "Look."

Several more frigates and corvettes blinked off the screen. The Mon Calamari cruisers were engaging the new coming ships, but their fighters were moving in to attack the _Judicator_. Several TIE squadrons crashed into the oncoming A-wings and X-wings, imperial corvettes moving up into the line of fire of the upcoming New Republic starships. The corvettes point defense canons and TIEs skillful maneuvering eviscerated the attackers to the point that half of the original attack force was gone before they reached the ISD. Many TIEs were taken out as well, but not even close to parody with the New Republic loses.

All the council could do was watch the tactical display as the last interdictor-transport was destroyed from afar by the Newly arrived ISD's and Dreadnaughts. Smaller ships were picked off one by one. By the time the commander had had caught on that the tide of battle was moving in the imperials direction, it was too late. The last corvettes went dark on the holo- projection. Now the MC-80s were the only ships remaining along with a token force of X-wings and one U-wing Squad.

The Chimera moved up to engage the cruisers while the Stormhawk and Judicator, with trailing Katanas, slammed into the blockade like a pair of nexu jaws from opposing sides. Several TIE Bombers and fighters moved in from either side to take out the engines of the Mon calamari ships. After several minutes, two MC80's bleeped off the screen. The remaining cruisers tried to make a jump to hyperspace, but three others were unable to make the jump due to their mauled engines. Within thirty minutes, it was all over.

Hours after the New Republic forces had been routed, the council sat and discussed what would be the best course of action next and the problems that may have led to their defeat. Fey'lya lamented the lack of clear, decisive strategy following the Chiss' rejection of the call for his surrender; much of the council agreed with him. Ackbar asserted that if he had led the attack, the forces would have at least destroyed the Chimera along with its human and near-human capital on board. It was dawn before they were dismissed from the meeting, with no real solutions coming to the table other than vague notions of needing more unity, stronger defenses and "better planning."

Luke walked back to his room, dragging his feet as he went. He was almost to his door when an smooth voice came out. "So, that is why she has been playing so hard to get."

He looked back at the doorway he had just past. Lando Calrissian was standing there, back against the frame, wearing only a pair of brown trousers and a sly smile on his face. "What do you mean?" Luke asked

"Oh, you know what I mean," said Lando, swaggering over to Luke. "So how was the debriefing? Any news?"

He spun around to his smuggler friend, "Grand Admiral Thrawn got away. He not only slipped away, but he destroyed almost every ship we sent to capture him."

The smuggler crinkled his nose. "Damn…. Well, don't worry. You guys will find a way; You always do," Lando said patting Luke on the shoulder, "we have Jedi Master Luke. Skywalker. Who can counter that?"

The blond Jedi put a hand through his hair. "No pressure," he said sarcastically.

Lando grinned. "Sorry. Didn't mean to unload a bunch of expectations on you…" he eyed Luke up and down, "You seem bushed." Lando walked backwards toward his room pointing a finger at the young Skywalker, "you should get some rest."

Lando pivoted on the heel of his foot and started walking toward his room. Before he came to the door, a purple-skinned woman put her hand on the door frame, poking her head out. "Lando, where are you?" she sang in her heavily accented basic. When she saw Luke, she gave a startled yip. "Oh! Maître Skywalker…. I…. I," She fumbled for words, as she pulled a bedsheet over her body, fidgeting to cover herself.

Behind Lando, about 20 meters down the hall the sound of an elevator opening pinged; C3PO came out, "Master Skywalker!" the droid shouted, "I have something to tell you!"

Lando looked over his shoulder, then back at Luke. "Well that's my cue to go," he quickly uttered, pointing both index fingers at Luke before darting back into his room with the Twi'lek woman. 3PO waddled over to Luke for what seemed like eternity.

"What is it 3PO?" Luke gowned.

C3PO walked up to Luke and gave an apologetic bow, "Why, I'm terribly sorry, sir. But I was told by General Garm Bel Iblis to give you a message."

The young Jedi's eyebrows shot up slightly. _I wondered what had happened to him._ "What is the message?

The droid looked Luke up and down. "No, you are far too tired, I will tell you after you have rested."

Luke slumped in exhaustion and irritation. "Just tell me, please."

C3PO put a mechanical hand to where he would have a chin, thinking for a second. "Well, alright. General Iblis says that he has received credible intelligence that the Hutts are selling Ysalamiri."

Luke's eyes went wide. "The Hutts are… what? How is that even possible…" he gave sigh, "unless… they've set up shop on Myrkr." It had been roughly a year since he had been on that planet, but the memory of being disconnected from the force was not one of his fondest ones.

"Precisely," agreed the protocol droid, "Iblis wants to talk to you about it as 'soon as humanly possible.'"

Skywalker huffed. "Thank you, 3PO. First, I need some sleep, then I will talk to Garm." He started walking toward his room. Luke wasn't sure if the protocol droid responded, but he didn't care. Luke walked to the end of the guest bed and flung himself backwards onto it. _No more worrying for now. Just sleep. Just sleep._

She came into consciousness falling forward. It was dark, and cold; it was cold as the day she went to retrieve her first lightsaber crystal on Ilum. She was caught by two pair of hands on either side of her, her legs still hitting the floor with dead weight. She looked around searching for light; there wasn't any. She instinctively tried to stand up and push away the hands holding her up by the biceps, but it was ineffective. Her body was too weak to struggle against the large men that had her.

She closed her eyes and tried to reach out with the force. Nothing. She tried in vain to feel what was going on around her, but it was as if the force had left her. She was completely blind; she couldn't see with her eyes or with the force. Panic started to kick in, her breathing became heavy.

"Who is there?" she said, staring hopelessly into the dark. She listened carefully, but the only thing she could hear was her own short gasps and the sound of her heart beating harder than she had ever felt. Her fear was betraying her, she needed to calm herself. She tried to slow her breathing, with several long, deep breaths. Her heart still raced, but so much that she could hear it anymore.

She listened again. She could now hear the breathing of the two people holding her arms. They wore masks from the sound of it. _Stormtroopers?_

"What's your name?" came a gruff voice.

Ahsoka was taken slightly aback. "What's yours?"

There was a short silence. "You are not in a position to ask the questions here, I am. Now, what is your name?" spat the raspy male voice.

"Ashla," she said, "Ashla Ti."

"Well 'Ashla,' I am Captain Gilad Pellaeon. You are under my custody until further notice. Is that clear?"

"Aye, Aye Captain." She retorted. The storm troopers shook slightly from withheld laughter.

A slap came across her face with no warning. Not hard enough to hear her ears ring but hard enough that she could feel the sting a few seconds after the blow. "Didn't see that coming, did you Jedi?" Pellaeon asked. "Want to know why?"

Ahsoka remained silent.

"First off, you can't see because of the carbonite freezing." He poked her forehead with one finger.

 _So, I was frozen in carbonite,_ she thought

"Secondly, this ship has a plethora of Ysalamiri. That means you won't be able to use your pesky little witch spells while you are in their vicinity." He poked her forehead a second time with two fingers. "And thirdly, you are going to be put in the brig until we can find out what exactly we want to do with you. How long you stay there depends, however, on how cooperative you are." He poked her forehead with three fingers this time.

Seizing the opportunity, Ahsoka snapped her teeth at the imperial's hand. She bit down on the imperial's finger with enough force from her sharp canine teeth to kill a thimiar. She released him after a split-second bite, but she could still taste blood on her lips. She could hear Captain Pellaeon howl with pain then grew back a couple steps. She grimaced, she tasted some of the Captain's blood in her mouth. She turned to the stormtrooper to her right and spat right where his torso would be, no doubt getting blood and spit on his white armor. She gave a wolfish smile _._

"Argghhhhh, you little slag!" The boots of Captain Pellaeon drew closer again.

Ahsoka braced for another smack, or possibly a boot to the face. It never came though. Instead another imperial marched over to stand in front of her. "Temper, Temper. What did you expect after you slapped and taunted her, Captain?" a smooth, calculated… somewhat familiar voice asked.

"Sir, that little tail-head nearly bit my finger off!" the gruff voice retorted.

"It builds character," Ahsoka chided.

A small chuckle came from the imperial in front of her. "What a feisty one you are. I almost forgotten about your tenacity, Fulcrum."

She froze. _Fulcrum? How could he know that name?_

"Or should I call you Ahsoka Tano?

Her heart rate increased again. That voice…where did she know that voice? And how the hell did he know who she was? "Who….?" she said.

"Don't act koi with me Ahsoka. We are past the point where you can fain ignorance," the eloquent voice stated.

Ahsoka expression hardened, "Who are you? How do you know my name?"

"I'm almost insulted that you don't remember me. I will give you a pass, however seeing as how you are unable to see me. My name is Mitth'raw'nuruodo, but you can call me Thrawn."


	5. Chapter 4

Thrawn walked briskly, cane in hand, to the hatch of his private quarters. Pellaeon walked close behind. Gilad's right index finger pained him from the bite of that Tagruta witch. He rubbed the bandage over his hand with his thumb. He had gotten all manner of nicks and bruises while in officer training school as well as in the field, but that was a long time ago. He wasn't healing as fast as he used to. Why, the scar on his throat would have been completely back to normal had the wound occurred I his younger years. Now old age was taking its toll. He looked forward at Thrawn striding to his private quarters. _Suck it up, old man! Thrawn took a knife to the chest!_

The door slid open and both walked into the room. Thrawn pushed a button on the wall, illuminating the entire room with hollows of different works of art of some far-flung species. The Grand admiral walked over to his command chair and keyed in a few letters into his key pad. The previous artworks disappeared, and were replaced with paintings, sculptures and other artistic creations from several different aquatic species.

Thrawn sat in the command chair, releasing a small breath. Suddenly, the Grand Admiral came into a fit of coughs, bringing a white gloved fist to his mouth. Pellaeon rushed over to his commanding officer, momentarily forgetting his own minor ailments. "Are you alright, sir?"

The blue alien gave a couple of more coughs, then cleared his throat. "I'll be alright," he stated, sitting himself straight in the chair.

Pellaeon looked down at the chiss' right hand; blood sprinkled his white glove. Gilad had known that Grand Admiral Thrawn had suffered a grievous wound during the battle of Bilbringi, but he grew more and more concerned that the attack could eventually prove fatal. "Sir, I must insist that you have routine check ups with the staff medical droid from now on. You are great at masking your symptoms in front of the men, but that doesn't mean that everything is fine."

"Check-ups are all fine and good, but I need to be there if crises arise. What would have happened if I were not there to control the situation on Mustafar?"

Pellaeon gave a hard expression but hung his head in shame. "Then we would have been reduced to ISD-shaped piece of space junk."

The Chiss locked his glowing red eyes on the aged officer. "Perhaps not, you are a highly competent and experienced captain," he looked off at one of the holo-paintings to his right, "but you aren't ready to lead the empire.

The grey-haired captain looked at the holo-displays, each one as foreign and peculiar as one could find in any high-class art gallery. Pellaeon balled his fists at his sides, the sound of his knuckles audibly cracking. He held the tension in his hands for a few seconds letting the pain in his finger sting him. He then released his grip, letting out a small huff. "So, what are we to do then? You are not going to be around forever, yet nobody can replace you."

Thrawn smiled, eyeing a nearby work of art. "What do you think of this piece, Captain?"

Pellaeon glanced at the holo-painting. "It looks like a work of art from Mon Calamari. Why?"

Thrawn's eyes flickered. "And what can you tell me about it, conceptually?"

The aged captain studied at the painting some more. The artwork depicted a coral reef, with many fish swimming in schools. Subtly blending with the ocean floor, a large cephalopod lay in wait, camouflaged with the sea floor. "It seems to be a painting depicting a predator, laying in wait for its prey."

"And what does that tell you?" Thrawn probed.

The gray-haired captain stroked his mustache in concentration. _Why would Thrawn ask me these questions?_ _It must have something to do with the battle at Mustafar._ "Well… predators in ocean worlds like Mon Calamari are known to use camouflage to sneak up on their prey. Perhaps it is an indicator of the instinctual mindset of the Mon Calamari people; they fear what they can't see or don't know."

Thrawn smile widened even farther. "Very good," he mused, "What of that statue?" The chiss gestured to a holo-projection across the room.

Gilad came to the holographic artwork, studying it. The statue was made of some large amphibian, eggs stuck to its back. The amphibious creature struck an odd pose, like a ceremonial dance of some sort. "I…. don't know, sir. It seems…to be a fertility goddess of some sort?"

"Close," Thrawn stated, "it's a 'clan mother.' It idealizes the maternal figure. Many amphibians have scores, if not hundreds of offspring." Thrawn pressed the keypad on his command chair, a new artwork being projected in the center of the dark room. "And what of this one?"

Gilad walked over to the display. It was a hologram of a what looked like a long-necked rancor popping out of a cave eating a massive goober-fish. A Gungan artwork, if he wasn't mistaken. Gilad finally knew what Thrawn was getting at. "Fear," Pellaeon said.

Thrawn's eyebrows lifted a bit. "Please, elaborate."

Gilad turned to the Grand Admiral, "These aquatic species have one thing in common; fear. They fear what hunts them, they fear what they don't understand, they fear what they can't see. They are biologically predisposed to flee when danger looms… and they do not understand concepts in battle other than attack, flee and hide."

Thrawn sat silently, offering a hand as if to pull more information from the captain.

"Knowing that, you used the rockets to both instill fear and uncertainty into the enemy….as well as put them into a defensive posture." Gilad looked around the room at all the various artworks. "and you knew that the Mon Calamari cruisers could only be used my Mon Calamari or other aquatics as well. Vurk, Mon Calamari or otherwise, the enemy was mostly aquatic in origin, and have many instinctual similarities." He shifted his gaze to his superior, and gave a wolfish smile, "so once you jammed their communications, you could easily predict that your enemy would cluster up into a defensive position or flea the battlefield once your counterattack was sprung."

Thrawn leaned back in his chair, clapping his white gloved hands. "You are quiet observant, captain. Progressed even passed the wildest aspirations."

"Thank you, sir" Pellaeon said, giving a polite nod. A sense of satisfaction uplifted his spirit at the complement. "There is one thing that I don't understand though."

"Yes?"

"How in the empire did you know this 'Fulcrum?' character?" Gilad asked, folding his arms.

Thrawn lifted an eyebrow and leaned forward putting both hands on the cane in front of him. "You do not know?"

Pellaeon shrugged. "There are a lot of Tagruta in the galaxy. It is almost impossible to discern whether this Tagruta is the "Fulcrum" from years ago or some other person…." He adjusted the bandage on his right finger. "Also, to know her full name…. have you met her before?"

The Grand Admiral sat back. Staring at the large piece of art in front of him. "Do you know Darth Vader's real name?"

Pellaeon winced. Such freely speaking of Darth Vader's personal life was an informal faux pas back in the hey day of the empire. Captain Pellaeon had seen numerous imperial officers asphyxiated by the dark lord himself for such comments while being in his presence. Vader wasn't around anymore, though. Talking about him liberally like this would take some getting used to. "No, sir."

"Anakin Skywalker," the blue skinned alien stated.

"Skywalker…" Pellaeon's eyes widened. "You mean he is…. Related to Luke Skywalker?"

"Yes." Thrawn began, "his father or uncle, I believe. It would be about the right time-frame." Thrawn used the cane as leverage to stand up. "Anakin, you see, had an apprentice while he was still a member in the Jedi order; a young Tagruta named Ahsoka Tano, according to credible sources with first hand contact with the two during the time of the clone wars."

"And how did you know this Tagruta was Ahsoka? What gave it away; was this apprentice known for biting off fingers?"

Thrawn walked over to a nearby holo-projection of a coral structure. "Firstly, why would Lord Vader have any other Tagruta frozen in his castle, if not that it is a close friend or an enemy?

Pellaeon's eyebrows furrowed.

Thrawn had a point. Vader was known to kill officers on a whim, and he certainly wasn't the "capture the enemy alive" type. If the Sith lord had someone frozen in carbonite, they wouldn't be just some rebel vagabond.

"That doesn't necessarily mean it this 'Ahsoka Tano' was 'Fulcrum,'" Gilad retorted.

"On the contrary, captain," the Chiss retorted politely, still studying at the coral projection. "According to sources from the clone wars era, Ahsoka Tano was a skilled practitioner of an unorthodox style of lightsaber combat; a reversed grip duel lightsaber style."

Thrawn paused a second to give a cough, inspecting the coral more closely, "Around the time of the attack on Lothal, as well as firsthand accounts from a fiasco on the outer rim moon of Raada, a Tagruta female matching the description of Miss Tano were given in both accounts. Civilians, Stormtroopers and Imperial officers all gave the description being an orange, blue and white Tagruta female, between 1.5 and 2 meters tall, and carrying two lightsabers in an unorthodox reverse grip," the Grand Admiral returned his gaze to Captain Pellaeon.

"In addition, according to Imperial informants, Senator Baal Organa was said to have regular meetings with suspected subversives such as Mon Mothma and Garm Bel Iblis as well as an unknown Tagruta matching the previously mentioned skin color. This 'Fulcrum' was also said to be extraordinarily persuasive, possibly using a Jedi mind trick to get passed security check points. Fulcrum was also a more-than-excellent pilot; something Miss Tano was known for." Thrawn leaned on his holo-display table heavily with his left arm.

Pellaeon stood in bewilderment. "And you didn't research this during our departure from Mustafar? You had already investigated this beforehand, years ago even. Using your Grand Admiral status and connections with the late Wullf Yularen in the ISB to gain the information. You have been investigating this Ahsoka/Fulcrum for years."

Thrawn glanced at the grey-haired Captain, smile returning. "Precisely."

Gilad didn't even know why he was surprised at Thrawn's thorough analysis of this seemingly long buried ordeal. When Grand Admiral Thrawn didn't know something of importance, it became an obsession. Like a Nexu who got the taste of blood, the Thrawn wouldn't rest until he had is opponent figured out.

Pellaeon walked over to the coral projection and folded his arms. "And what do you have in store for Miss Tano? Precision hyperspace jumps like we did with Master C'baoth?"

The Chiss warlord gave a faint smile, "Something like that."

The first thing he felt was a cold, metallic barrel pressing against his forehead. He kept his eyes closed, lest he let his attacker know he was awake.

"I know you can hear me," came a soft, Twi'leki accented voice. "Do not play any of your Jedi games, Maître Skywalker."

He opened his eyes. The purple skinned Twi'lek from last night was standing over him. She had a large, proud grin on her face. "You seem happy to see me," He said.

The woman, still holding the blaster to his head, gave a small chuckle. "Well, you made it so easy for me to capture you!"

Luke glanced at the end of his bed where he kept his belt. It was setting there, but his lightsaber wasn't where he had left it. He groaned.

The Twi'lek's smile grew even wider. She reached behind her back and produced the cylindrical weapon in front of his face. "Looking for something?" she mocked, waving the lightsaber tauntingly.

Luke purged his lips. _What else could go wrong?_ He looked over in the corner of the room to see two blaster wielding Ugnaughts guarding the doorway. _Great._

"Can't feel the connection to your 'Force' either, can you?"

Luke looked at the intruder. She was biting her lip now, eyes twinkling with excitement. "You brought Ysalamiri," said Luke.

"Ysalamiri," she said at the same moment he did, shaking her head up and down. She slid the blaster down the bridge of Luke's nose and down to his chest. "I and my partners have placed the little lizards in all corners of the room before you woke up…" She waved the pistol up down then left to right. "You. Are. Completely. trapped." She said, tapping the barrel of her blaster on Luke's chest after each word.

Luke eyed the Twi'lek then gazed around the room. Several Ysalamiri were propped up on nutrient frames around the room. His mind was racing, trying to come up with a plan. _Maybe I can keep her talking; she seems chatty._ "You must be very proud of yourself."

The purple skinned intruder smirked. "We were very fortunate. It's not every day you catch Maître Luke Skywalker with his pants down." She giggled to herself. "Well, I caught that Calrissian fellow with his pants down. I caught you with your eyes closed"

Luke's heart skipped a beat. _Calrissian!_ "What have you done with Lando?"

She gave a snort, "He is knocked out in the next room…. He actually allowed me to tie him up before I got him with the stunner… kinky boy."

He grimaced. "Well, that's good I suppose..." Luke was never going to get that image out of his head. "Why are you doing this? Are you working for the empire?"

She laughed, "Your bounty is quite high."

"Oh," Luke uttered. _Bounty hunters, huh?_ Silence hung in the air for a few seconds. The woman's smile never lessoned. He stared the Twi'lek up and down. She wore black, skin-tight pants with a short crop top of the same color. Around her belt, she wore a holster, a short range comm link and a data pad with several cords rapped around it.

She followed his wondering eyes. "You like what you see?" she teased.

"You're a slicer," Luke said, bringing his eyes back to hers.

Her blinked, then cocked her head back a bit. "You noticed my equipment, aye? Yes, I am a slicer."

 _So that's how she got in here. Looks can be deceiving._ He looked up the ceiling, _Mabey I can get my emergency comm that's stowed in my boot._ Luke had decided he was going to stow an emergency comm on his person after the third of fourth time he had been captured by the imperials, and now it looked like it was going to come in handy. Luke gave the most pleasant smile he could and shifted his gaze back to the giddy, purple woman. "So…. I am going to be taken away soon?"

The Twi'lek gave a chipper nod.

"Well, may I get dressed first before we head out?"

She glanced down at what he was wearing. The only thing he had taken off before sleeping was his belt and boots. "ummm… No. You will go as you are."

 _Crate-spit!_ He thought, trying to maintain the same level of pleasantness to his face.

"Please? My toes get so cold on space trips," Luke said, remembering countless times of how Leia would complain about how cold their feet on space trips as well as in Winter seasons. Hopefully this Twi'lek could sympathize with such a request.

The purple woman puckered her lips, taking a second to contemplate. "Oui," she said at last, "but don't try any funny-business." She walked backwards to the edge of the room, blaster trained on him the entire time.

Luke slowly lifted himself up and slid off the bed. The two Ugnaughts tensed when he stood up, putting their blasters in a half-trained position. He walked over to his belt and lifted his gloved robotic hand to grab it.

"Wait!" the Twi'lek loud-whispered.

Luke froze. Hand a quarter of a meter away from the shirt. The Twi'lek walked over and snatched the belt, inspecting it inside and out. Once she came up with nothing, she handed the belt back to Luke.

All that was left was his boots. _If she snatches my boots from me, she might find the communicator hidden in to inside of the tongue._ He sat at the end of the bed and looked up at the purple woman. _I need to distract her._

"So, are you a slicer, a bounty hunter or an imperial agent on a seduction mission?" Luke asked, reaching for one of his boots.

She blinked. Her eyes went from his boots to Luke's face. Her smile came back again. "I'm not an imp. I am a slicer, I am a bounty hunter, And…" She gave a wink to the blond Jedi. "if one of our targets is cute enough, I can seduce too."

Luke gave an uneasy chuckle. He didn't know whether to be charmed or afraid of this woman. He grabbed one of the boots and pulled it to himself. On the inside of his left boot's tongue was the emergency comm, a small bulge where it was resting between the boot's fabric.

"Stop!" the Twi'lek ordered again, pointing the blaster directly at Luke's head.

Luke Froze. _Did she know?_

"I'm going to have to search those boots, too." She stated, walking up to the tense Jedi.

With a slight of hand, he pulled the comm out of its pouch and slipped it into the sleeve of his shirt. The bounty hunter snatched the boot from him and through it to one of the Ugnaughts. She did the same with the other boot as well. The Ugnaught rummaged through the boots, and after a few seconds came up empty. The Ugnaught threw the footwear back to Luke.

"Alright, Maître Skywalker, get them on. We will be leaving soon."


	6. Chapter 5

Chapter 5

Mara Jade's eyelids shot open at the sound of her comm's ringing. She tossed in the bed, hair messy from the pillow, glancing at a nearby digital clock. It was two hours before dawn.

"Ugh," she moaned, lifting herself out of the bed. Why? _Why can't I have a good night sleep?_

Mara has always been a light sleeper; something ingrained in her since she was very young. She needed to be ready to spring into action if some unknown assailant came sneaking through her door, at least when she was the empire's hand that is. Even as Talon Karrde's lieutenant, it didn't hurt to be on your toes. In the imperial palace though, she thought she might be able to get half a decent night's rest. What was all the Imperial palace's security for right?

She walked over to the comm she laid on a nearby dresser. The small device was still beeping, indicating an incoming call. She snatched up the whining device. _If it is 3PO again, I swear on his life that I will…_

"This better be an emergency," she grumbled into the comm. She waited a few seconds. No response. "Hello?" Still no response.

The voice of Luke Skywalker came out. "So, where are we going?"

"We must wait a while longer," said a woman in a strong twi'leki accent.

Mara snorted. Luke must have gone out with Calrissian last night and brought home something exotic. "Skywalker, your comm is - "

From the communicator came the distinct sound of Ugnaught language came over the transmission. _What the hell?_ Mara thought, _Ugnaughts?_

"They will be here shortly," the Twi'lek stated.

The nonsensical Ugnaught spoke again. Ugnaught always sounded like gargling mucus to her. _Did Luke bring home a Twi'lek and an Ugnaught?_ Mara grimaced. When it came to the comm, Luke must have accidentally held down the comm's transmit button, so now she could hear his whole conversation. Mara put her finger on the off switch.

"They already know we have Skywalker." The female, Rylothean voice answered, "they are bringing the ship around. Please, calm yourself."

' _Have Skywalker_?' This wasn't an accidental, one-way transmission. Mara's mind raced. If she didn't act soon, Luke was going to be taken by whoever this was. Mara ran to the doorway, grabbing her robe on her way.

"What if I overpowered you three?" came Luke's voice from the communicator. "Once I deal with you, all I need to do is alert the palace guards. Simple."

Mara stopped a meter from the door, holding the device to her ear. _What are you doing, Skywalker?_

There came a chuckle from the comm. "You would be crazy to do that!" the female retorted, "We have men in Lando's room and on the other side as well, both with the 'salamiri. Even if you could 'overpower us,' they would kill Monsieur Calrissian before coming to finish you off."

Mara's grip on the communicator tightened. "Damn it!" Mara spat. She had a multiple hostage situation now. If she alerted the palace guard, it was likely both Lando and Skywalker would be used as human shields. If she went alone, it was likely either captives would be harmed in the crossfire. If she did nothing, Luke would be taken anyway.

Mara glanced around the room, searching for something she could use. Her mind jumped to her holdout blaster. She walked over to the bed and reached underneath the pillow. Perhaps she could use the small weapon to get the jump on one of them. She checked the weapon to see if it was fully loaded, a routine she performed almost completely by reflex.

A strange sensation swept over Mara, forcing her to freeze in place with the holdout blaster half loaded. She looked over to a storage box laying by the bed. From inside the piece of furniture, she felt a peculiar pull. She put the holdout blaster on the bed, the pull that compelled her to walk to the large storage box. Inside were some blankets, sheets, and pillow cases. Mara pulled the bed set out of the box to reveal a small, silver cylinder on the bottom. Luke's old lightsaber that he had given her after their run-in with Joruus C'baoth on Wayland.

An idea sparked her imagination. She put Luke's line on hold, then put in a different comm number. After a few rings a metallic voice came over the comm link. "Hello? Do you have any idea what time it is?"

"3PO, Get to Luke's room now; the one next to Calrissian's. It's urgent."

"She should really be more considerate when I'm am trying to power down." 3PO complained to the little, blue Astromech droid next to him.

The diminutive droid moved its domed head to the golden robot. It gave a couple of sequential whistles and beeps while moving its optical sensor.

"Me?" C3PO said, "I had urgent information from General Garm Bel Iblis. I'm pretty sure this woman just wants us to get Luke to open his door, so she can put him in bondage or something."

R2 warbled, letting out a few high then low pitched whistles.

3PO jumped a bit in surprise. "I didn't mean that! I meant it like, you know, capturing him. She has wanted to kill Master Luke many times in the past. There is no telling if she could revert back to her old ways."

The elevator came to a stop. When the elevator door opened, Mara was already making her way into the elevator with them. She wore the same plum robe as earlier but was barefoot, with Master Luke's old lightsaber in hand. She pressed the door-close button.

"I think you might be right, R2," the golden droid whispered, both droids worked their way over to the red-haired woman.

Mara looked down at the smaller robot. "What is R2 doing here?"

C3PO looked up in surprise. "He wanted to come along. He can be very useful in emergencies. Which from the sound of things, it could be an emer-"

"I understand," the robed female cut off. She walked up to the protocol droid and studied the metallic shell. "Do you have any special compartments?"

3PO was taken slightly aback. "No. But R2 has-"

"Shut it." Mara ordered, turning to the Astromech. "R2, can you take a leg panel off?" The woman pointed a finger at C3PO's right thigh.

The Astromech gave an affirmative.

"R2!" C3PO cried, turning to Mara again, "what is the meaning of all this, Miss Jade? Have you gone mad?

Mara turned to 3PO. "Luke is in trouble. I need you to get him this lightsaber, okay? That's all." She held up the Jedi weapon to him.

C3PO looked at the redhaired woman, then to R2. "Why can't we give it to R2 to hide? He has a compartment for it."

Mara gave a sigh pushing one index finger to either side of her temple. "Too many people know that R2 is Luke's. If he goes, they are likely to open him up to see if he has any escape tools or extra weapons on him." She put a hand on her hip and another on 3PO's shoulder. "If you deliver it, they probably won't suspect a thing."

3PO thought for a second, a couple of beeps coming from his Astromech pal beside him. "Yes, I know she's right. The chances of you being recognized compared to me are considerably larger." The droid slumped in resignation. "Okay, do what you need to do."

R2 set to work taking off 3PO's thigh panel. It took about a minute and a half to get the panel off. After the bolts were unscrewed, she squeezed the lightsaber into the leg cavity, moving around some cords to make room. R2 quickly re-fastened the bolts to their proper place, while Mara pressed the elevator button to the floor Calrissian was on.

When the elevator opened the hall was completely empty, other than two room service providers of Talz species, and a large cleaning service cart. Mara turned back to the two droids and whispered, "Play along."

The redhead walked straight toward the room of Lando Calrissian. Droids following behind her. The two Talz maids tensed when they saw them heading straight toward the door behind where they were standing. She walked with a fire to her step, a stomp that conveyed anger like a bantha that had been kicked.

One of the Talz workers tried to stop her, putting up to hands and saying something in its native language.

"He says that they are cleaning out the rooms and –," 3PO was stopped mid-sentence as Mara walked past the white furred alien and banged on Lando's room door.

"Lando! You get out here you no good, cheatin', womp rat!" Mara yelled in a distinctly outer rim accent. She banged on the door again. "I know your in there with that shit-colored Twell-ik. My girl Orinda told me 'bout that trashy nightwalker you picked up!"

The pair of Talz were shocked by the loud display, almost as much as C3PO had been. Mara just stood there, breathing heavy through her nose like she was ready to break the door down herself. She banged on the door a third time.

"You better come out! You only gonna make your lickin' worse!" she said in a yell everyone on the floor could hear. Still no response.

The duo of white-haired aliens stood speechless.

"Fine!" the Mara bellowed, cupping both hands to the sides of her mouth to amplify her words. "If you don't want to come out, maybe you will just need a little encouragement." She turned to R2. "Rooty! Come with me. We're gon' fusion weld his ship! How do you like that?!" She walked over to her old room, where Luke had been staying, and banged on that door too. "Luke! I know you have been corrupting my Lando. Don't act like you haven't been."

She strode past the two room service workers and pulled a comm out of her belt, handing it to 3PO. "If Lando, a Twell-ik, or Luke Skywalker come out of one of these rooms, lemme know. If you hear a speeder outside, pickin' up someone through the window, you lemme know." She put a hand on her hip, "In fact, if you see any of those three, pull the fire alarm!" She turned and walked to the elevator, "come on, Rooty!" R2 followed close behind her. In a manner of seconds, the elevator slide shut, and 3PO was all alone with the two Talz.

The two white haired aliens stared at the elevator, then to the 3PO, then to each other. 3PO was only about a meter from the two aliens, and around a meter and a half from Calrissian's doorway.

"So…. You two are quiet large men for guest services. Good to see diversity in the housekeeping department," he said dryly.

The two Talz leaped at the golden droid before he could react. The droid tried to scream but his mouth piece was smothered with a decorative pillow before he could even let out a sound. 3PO was on the floor, both burly aliens on top of him, prying the comm from his hand. Before he knew it, the white-furred aliens found his power switch and turned him into shutdown mode.

The scuffling stopped on the other side of the doorway. She kept her blaster trained on Skywalker. He sat at the end of his bed, eyeing the door, as if to try to sense what was outside. She thrusted her blaster toward the young Jedi. "You stay right there, Skywalker," she ordered.

A knock came from the doorway, and a strange, Talz babble came after it.

"Get the door, Ughs," she commanded, pointing to the door with her nose.

The Ugnaughts scrunched their faces.

"I said get the door! Eh!" she said in a loud whisper, swatting her non-blaster hand at the two. She brought her attention back to the Jedi, who shifted his probing eyes from the Ugnaughts back to her. She puckered her lips. _How stupid of her! Bickering in front of the captive._

The door slid open, with the two Talz brothers haling in a golden protocol droid on their service cart. The two white furred aliens sat the droid on the floor in the middle of the room.

She gave a glance to the two Talz. "The droid that that riff raff told to stand outside for Monsieur Calrissian?"

The two gave a nod.

"Well, we will need to take it with us. It might fetch come credits on Nal Hutta-." She said just before catching her next folly. _She said one of their stopping points! Bon Sang!_

The Ugnaughts furrowed their brows in anger and let out a string of insults in their native language.

Her face flushed from embarrassment. "I know! I know! I am just a slicer, what do you want from me?!" she retorted, still training the blaster at Luke.

"We want you… shut up!" one of the Ugnaughts spat in broken basic.

Before she could respond, a beep came over her comm. She held the device to her lips. "Oui."

"I'm outside."

"Oui," she confirmed, putting the comm back on her belt. She pointed the blaster at Luke's face, "Maître Skywalker, get up. We are going." She pointed a finger at the Talz as well. "Take the droid with us too."

Luke stood up slowly, with his hands held up. "Pardon me for asking but where exactly am I going?"

She pointed the blaster to the window.

The Jedi saw where she was pointing to, then stared back at her with wide eyes. "You can't be serious."

"Oh, but I am." She snickered to herself. She followed behind the blond-haired Jedi before stopping at the window seal. Outside loomed a thick fog, lights flashing from the ever alive Coruscant. From the thick cloud came a dark figure, the size of a light corvette, materializing out of thin air. From the side of the ship opened a hatch, a long stairway soon protruding from it to land directly in front of the window.

The two Talz reached under their cart to produce what looked like suction devices, then attached them to the glass window. The Ugnaughts loosened bolts om the window frame, then with one hard pull, the glass popped out.

"Grab the droid and don't forget the Ysalamiri, Ughs," the twi'lek ordered, then waved the pistol at Luke, "Well, go on. We don't have all day."

Luke gave a sigh and stepped out onto the ship's entry stairway. _Grand Admiral Thrawn crushes a well-orchestrated ambush, then a hodgepodge group of bounty hunters with Ysalamiri and a stealth ship waltz into Luke's room and take him prisoner. Can this day get any better?_


	7. Chapter 6

Ch. 6

He pressed the button to the holding cell, holding a restraining collar in his left hand. The Ysalamiri on his shoulder yawned. Gilad cocked an eyebrow. _I didn't know these lizards could yawn._ He scoffed _._

The brig door slid open. Inside, the Tagruta woman sat cross-legged on the floor, her back turned to him. She still wore the gray clothing she was freed from the carbonite slab in, save her boots and gauntlets.

"Get up," Gilad commanded, lifting the collar with one outstretched hand. "Put this collar on, now."

She leisurely stood and turned to face him. After studying the collar for a few seconds, she gave a defiant smirk. "Sorry, I don't think it's my style."

Pellaeon snorted. "Well, your eyesight probably is still fuzzy, so perhaps you should come take a closer look." He held the restraining collar out, "I insist."

The woman looked down at the shock collar, then back to Pellaeon. She folded her arms and kept that incessant, smug look on her face.

Pellaeon gave a shrug, "If you insist." He then stepped aside.

The three storm troopers behind him walked into the room. After a short scuffle, Gilad stepped back into the room. The woman was now bent over the bed with her arms firmly held behind her back. One of the stormtroopers pulled out wrist restraints and cuffed her, while another did the same to her ankles. Gilad walked over to her right side and bent down next to her ear.

"Look we have matching bracelets for you." Gilad said dryly. He then turned his head to the nearest stormtrooper. "You," Pellaeon said pointing a bandaged index finger to the nearest stormtrooper, "lift her head tail so I can put this shock collar on."

The Stormtrooper hesitated, then turned his head to Pellaeon. Gilad shot a glance at the soldier. "Well?"

"Aye, Captain," the trooper replied, walking hesitantly to the Tagruta female, grabbing her rear lekku with both hands. A small gag audibly eking out as he did lift the Tagruta appendage.

Pellaeon slid the collar on Ahsoka, then eyed the trooper. "Everything quite alright?"

The soldier let go of the lekku, rubbing his gloved palms together, then gave an affirmative nod, "Yes, Captain."

"You're first time touching a tail-head before?" one of the other troopers asked, patting the startled one on the shoulder.

Still bent over the bed, Ahsoka gave an annoyed scowl.

"Don't worry, she won't spray you with her ink. That's just an urban legend." One of the other troopers laughed.

From the corner of his eye, Gilad could see Ahsoka's face shift from an irritated frown to a dumfounded drop of her jaw. "Ink?" she whispered.

"Is it true they have a poisonous bite as well? And they have echolocation in their horns?" the disgusted trooper said shifting his helmet to look at his compatriots.

Pellaeon rubbed his hand, he could feel the pain in his finger almost as freshly as when it had happened, not twenty-four hours ago. "No, all rubbish. Anyway, back to business. Get her to her feet." The troopers complied.

Gilad produced a small piece of equipment from his belt. "You're also going to wear this. Poisonous or not, you have been proven to be a biter." He placed the muzzle over the captive's face, pulling the strap tight. She tried to talk back but her words were muffled.

"Now," Pellaeon began, pulling a remote from his belt, "if you take one tow out of line, you will get an electro-shock that can down a medium size Bantha. If you do not cooperate with the interrogation, you will be electro-shocked. If you get too cheeky, electro-shock." He pulled the remote to her face, giving a wolfish grin. "Is that clear."

Ahsoka moved her gaze from the remote to Gilad, then winked.

 _Still defiant, aye?_ A clicking sound rang out from the collar for two to three seconds, she closed both eyes and gave a muffled scream. She wobbled back and forth, legs looking as through they were about to buckle. She quickly recovered, but an involuntary tear formed, not allowing her to fully mask how painful the experience was.

The walk to interrogations would take longer than he had anticipated. The Tagruta's hobbling in the ankle restraints meant she would inch her way from the brig to their destination, and Pellaeon relished every minute of it. He would throw in a "getting tired yet?" every so often, with no intention of stopping to suit her comfort. She just kept warbling forward like an Astromech droid in the muck.

Before they arrived at the to their destination, Pellaeon decided to take a detour to inspect fighter hanger. Ahsoka hobbling forward with Pellaeon and the three storm troopers close behind, many troopers, pilots, engineers and other passersby stood at attention when they passed but a look of curiosity struck their face once Pellaeon had passed.

"Pay no attention to the rebel prisoner, just getting some exercise." Pellaeon would comment sardonically as they strode past the various onlookers. By the time they reached the interrogation quarters of the _Chimera,_ Gilad could almost guarantee that the tail-head's ankles were raw.

Pellaeon pushed the switch to open the hatch to the interrogation room, then turned to the muzzled prisoner. "After you," he gestured to the door politely.

"Where is Juno?" the young man pleaded, shivering from the sudden carbonite thawing process. He looked around with unfocused eyes scanning the room, breath heavy and muscles tense.

"Quite unimpressive if you ask me," stated Grand Admiral Thrawn, arms folded as he glared through the one-way transparasteel window. The man had been freed from his carbonite prison and had barely lasted two minutes without calling the name of the female along with he had been frozen. The blonde woman had been taken away, and this man was whimpering for her like a pup taken from its mother _._

"He is a Jedi by the look of it," An ensign reported behind him, "we recovered lightsaber off him, and a blaster from the blonde female that accompanied him."

The Grand Admiral lifted a hand to his chin, watching the unfrozen man stumbling around the small room, supporting himself on the transparasteel wall in front of them. Some people handled the carbonite sickness well, others were like this strange fellow. "Where is Juno?" the supposed Jedi kept repeating wistfully.

"At any rate…" Thrawn began, "What of the Tagruta? Has she arrived in interrogations as well?" he brought his gave to the nearby ensign.

"Yes, sir." The subordinate replied, slipping through a data pad, "she is taken two cells over."

The Chiss gave a small nod. Eyeing the captive one last time. Thrawn grabbed his cane made for the exit. "Make sure you have a shock collar put on him soon, ensign."

"Yes, admiral."

Several doors down, the grand admiral opened the blast door and walked inside; the first thing he heard was the snort of a particularly bemused Captain Pellaeon over the comm.

"Give her a second dose" Pellaeon ordered through the comm, "level eight, I think."

An imperial officer adjusted the settings on a hand-held remote, then flipped the switch. Even with the comm inactive, a shriek could be heard from the other side of the rooms transparasteel window. A glance through the window revealed the source of the noise to be Ahsoka Tano hands cuffed behind her back while setting in plain looking chair.

The aforementioned officer came to attention and saluted his superior.

Thrawn walked briskly over to the comm and pressed a button. "Captain, I don't believe we were supposed to start interrogations until my arrival."

Pellaeon craned his head to the one-way mirror, the faint hint of a suppressed smile on his face. "Was it?" He glanced down at the disoriented Tagruta as he straitened his imperial uniform, "must have slipped my mind." He marched out of the room; arms folded behind his back. A moment later, he strode next to the Grand Admiral, coming to a stop in front of the one-way mirror.

Thrawn pushed the comm switch on the interrogators command table. "Greetings Miss Tano. This is Grand Admiral Thrawn."

The Tagruta lifted her head, looking at the glass in front of her with a dazed look. "Greetings to you, Thrawn," she said sardonically.

"I would like a little information from you," Thrawn stated, "who exactly put you in carbonite?"

She stiffened, furrowing her eyebrows. Her eyes trailed off in recollection. She opened her mouth as if to reply, but no words came out. After a few seconds, she pressed her lips together. "I can't remember."

"She's lying." Gilad whispered, folding his arms stanchly.

Thrawn pushed the comm button again. "Miss Tano, obviously you were captured for a reason. Why would Lord Vader want to keep you stored away?"

Ahsoka's eyes flashed. "Vader…" she let out. She looked hard in concentration at the floor. "He froze me in carbonite?"

"Yes" the Chiss replied.

Ahsoka's mouth dropped open. She floundered trying to speak but unable to process the new bit of information.

"She's playing dumb." Pellaeon spat, turning his back to the prisoner. "Let's just bring an interrogator droid in here to pull the information from her."

Thrawn studied the female Tagruta, watching every movement of her eyes, her face, her muscles, her posture. "Possibly," the Grand Admiral stated, musing at the possibilities. We shall hear soon enough what she knows, one way or the other.

The interrogation started with conversation about the clone wars. The prisoner seemed as though she were cooperating with the interrogation, albeit sarcastic, carefully-worded responses. It quickly became clear that she was deliberately providing information that was on the public record. Anyone could, through a fair degree of research, pull up information on the various battles she claimed to be apart. Unfortunately, after the expunging of the Jedi from the public records, it would be hard to tell if the information was accurate.

After the preliminary interrogation, the next round of questions was over Ahsoka's work as Fulcrum, which she provided almost credible information. She hadn't realized that Thrawn had charged with discovering "Fulcrum" and knew much of the whereabouts of much of her past dealings; A fact that he neglected to inform the rebel captive. After an hour or so of verbal probing, Thrawn gave the order to bring in an IT-O Interrogation Unit.

3PO jolted on, his robotic eyes adjusting to the dark room. He was setting on the floor. "Where am I?" His arms and legs refusing to move at his command.

"You're in a maintenance closet," Luke stated.

"Master Luke!" 3PO exclaimed, turning his head to find the silhouette of the young Jedi beside him. "Where are you? Where am I? Where are we?"

Luke let out a sigh. "We are on the bounty hunters' ship. I think I heard them say something about moving us off Coruscant…" the young Jedi paused. "You wouldn't happen to have a long-range transmitter by chance? I have a communicator, but we are out of range, and the transmission won't send while we're in this stealth ship," Luke explained, shifting his weight uncomfortably. "Or perhaps a lock pick to uncuff my hands from behind my back, my shoulders are chafing me."

3PO sat up straight. "Sadly, no to both questions. I do have something better though!" The robot answered in a low tone. "Your lightsaber!"

Luke's head shot towards the robot. "That's fantastic!" he said looking 3PO up and down. "Where is it?"

"It's in my right leg, miss Jade hid it under one of my leg panels."

"Oh," Luke replied, his silhouette slumping a bit.

A door slid open behind Luke, causing him to tumble backwards. The man landed square on his back, his cuffed hands doing little to break his fall. The sudden change in lighting throwing his eyes out of focus. Luke's eyes slowly adjusted to reveal a purple figure bent over him, staring back. "It is bad luck to lean on doors, you know?"

"Master Luke!" 3PO exclaimed.

"I'm okay, 3PO." Luke reassured, not taking his eyes off the Twi'leki woman standing over him, barrel of a blaster pointed at his head.

"Not, that Master Luke! I haven't any arms or legs!" wailed the automaton. Luke shot a glance at the closet he had been held in, the head and torso of golden droid lay propped up against the wall of the storage closet.

"Boo-hoo," the Rylothean woman mocked, lifting a free hand to the corner of her eye, and sardonically rubbing non-existent tears. "Never before have I met such a whiney droid! Ah!" she thrusted a hand toward the closet in an expression of irritation.

The purple woman directed her attention back to Luke. "You have a meeting to attend Maître Skywalker," the twi'lek began, snapping her fingers while signaling with her blaster for the two Talz behind her to lift her Jedi prisoner with a shooing motion. "Captain Marven wishes to have a word with you."


	8. Chapter 7

Chapter 7

Luke pulled on the handcuffs placed on his wrist. A clink, clink, clink coming from the metallic restraints. "How in the name of the force did I get myself into this situation?"

"Why, it id'n obvious?" a bald, stout human scoffed from the other side of the sabacc table. "Ya let your guard down, and she seized the moment."

On either side of Luke were two Talz making sure that he didn't move from the center of the booth where he now sat. The bald man sat directly across from him, with the purple twi'lek women to the man's left and a tall, dark skinned human with a short beard and long braids. Each member tossed their sabacc cards to the purple woman.

The bald man lifted a gray mug up and shook it back and forth. On cue, a lanky droid scooted over to the table, grabbed the mug, and silently poured the man an amber colored ale from its chest compartment. The droid handed the mug back and returned to the other side of the general living area, resting in what looked to be an open closet.

Luke eyed the wrist restraints he wore, not so much looking at the cuffs but reflecting upon them. _How could I let myself be kidnapped like this? I'm smarter than this._

"It ain't your fault, you know?" Marven stated, as if reading his thoughts. The bald man took a small sip of his ale, eyes intently watching Luke's every reaction.

Luke glanced back at the captain. "I'm sorry?"

"It ain't your fault…." The man repeated, "…getting captured and all." Marv clarified.

The Twi'leki woman dealt sabacc cards to each of the players. Upon the shoulders of the purple Rylothean, was a small Ysalamiri, lazily holding on to the woman's upper arm. The dark skinned human and the Talz quickly grabbed their hand, and looked over their respective cards, but Marven didn't move. The captain had been screening Luke's every action and reaction the entire game, not looking at his cards until Luke had grabbed his. At first, Luke hadn't been sure, the man took sip of his ale or reoriented his credits into a nice, neat pile. After a few rounds though, it became apparent that this Captain Marven was using the sabacc game to gauge Luke.

Luke lifted his cards to his gaze, Marv following suit a few milliseconds afterward. "How so?"

Captain Marven shuffled his hand, making an exaggerated frown. "Could you have predicted a Twi'lek woman would infiltrate the palace by batting her eyelashes at Lando Calrissian? Right under your nose?" All the players threw in two credits to the center of the table one to the main pot and sabacc pot.

Luke looked up at the man. "I suppose that is something we should have accounted for…"

The twi'lek woman cleared her throat. Marv glanced over to the purple female. "Yes, Prin?"

She gestured to the sabacc deck she was holding. Marv held up a hand to indicate that he would stay. The dark skinned human and the Talz to the right of Luke asked for one card each. Luke asked for a card as well. With rotten fortune, he "bombed out" with a grand score of zero.

 _Just my luck,_ Luke thought.

The members of the group made several raises to the ante. Luke matched each of their raises until it got to his turned had arrived. By that time, he was completely out of credits.

"You must call or fold." Prin announced and taking a drink of her cocktail. Stoking the chin of the Ysalamiri on her shoulders.

"No." Marv retorted. "You can't call until the fourth round. Ain't that right, Rainer?"

The dark-skinned man shrugged and drank some of his own ale.

"Well, I don't have any more credits." Luke replied, waving a shackled hand at the barren table in front of him.

The Talz to Luke's left made a sound in its native language, and Talz on the other side responded similarly.

"Alright, alright." Marv waved a dismissing hand. "What do ya got?"

Luke sat his cards on the table, and all eyes came to his cards.

The Talz on either side of him let out a bellowing, extraterrestrial sound that could possibly be laughter.

Rainer smirked. "Now that's what I call bad luck; An Idiot, a mistress and a demise?"

"Yes." Luke sighed. Prin and Captain Marven had given him a few credits initially to start the game. The deal was that if he won any credits, he would pay them back what they had loaned him, and he could exchange the credits for some food or something while they were on their way to hand him over to the imperials. "Well, I suppose I won't be able to pay you back the credits I burrowed." Luke let out.

"Don't worry!" Prin exclaimed, taping a spoon to her cocktail glass. Her pupils were fairly dilated from the past two drinks she had since the beginning of the game. "You will fetch a greater bounty than a few credits."

The robot in the corner sprang to life, and rode over to Prin's seat, grabbed her cocktail glass and gave it back to her.

"And one for Luke too, Tin-y," Marv interjected, pointing a finger in his direction.

"Me?" Luke asked.

"Yeah, you," the captain clarified, "If we all are drinking, we won't be able to keep a good eye on ya. We need to make sure that you are twice as tipsy as the rest of us." Marv pointed a finger at the place in front of Luke.

The robot server glided over to Luke and brought out a tin, pint sized cup.

"Give him the Pantoran stout." Rainer told the droid, eyeing Luke. "We want to make sure he can catch up to us quickly."

The robot extended a nozzle from its chest and poured the dark ale into the cup in front of Luke. One of the Talz also lifted a cup to get a refill as well.

"I'm not much of a drinker." Luke said, grimacing at the sight of the bitter drink. "Perhaps I should go back to my storage closet."

"No, No," Marven answered, gesturing with a hand in an encouraging motion toward Luke. "Drink the whole thing." He placed an elbow on the table. At this point, all were staring at Luke and near liter of ale in front of him. "I insist."

Luke had been captured or kidnapped on several occasions in the past and had always gotten out of the situation with his quick wit, guidance from the force or help from friends. Trying to figure his way off a stealth corvette, after drinking several pints of ale, and being cut off from the force by these blasted Ysalamiri, though? He might not be up to this challenge.

Luke's eyes slid across the table. "Alright, if you insist." He grabbed the cup's handle and took a large gulp of the Corellian stout, then another, and another, until the entire cup was empty. He let out a small sigh.

Marv gestured to the robot to refill the glass. The droid promptly did so.

Luke starred down at the dark ale. "Please, not again," He pleaded.

"No, No." Marv reassured Luke, waving a dismissive hand. He pointed a thumb at the dark-skinned human sitting near him. "Every time Rainer here takes a drink; you take one too."

Rainer lifted his glass and took a swig. Luke stared down at the strong, dark beer once again, and took a drink from of his own cup. The two Talz on either side of Luke rumbled with laughter, producing a strange, high-pitched from their alien mouths. One of the furry aliens gave a rough pat Luke on the back, the resulting jolt almost making his shackled hands lose grip of the cup.

"You are going to incapacitate me with alcohol?" Luke questioned, setting the cup on the table.

"Crude but effective!" Prin retorted, handing the jumbled mess of cards from the last round to Captain Marven. The short, bald man organized the deck and gave it a quick shuffle.

Marv tossed two credits in front of Luke. "Let's keep the Master Jedi in the game, huh?"

The rest of the players threw two credits over to him as well.

"It's a real shame your worth so much money, Master Jedi." Rainer said, picking up his cards as Marven dealt them. "You seem like a decent enough guy, not like the rest of those nose-in-the-air Coruscanti's . Also, your destroying the death star and all."

Marv shot Rainer a glance.

"Because none of us here really like the empire," Rainer went on, shuffling his hand around. "And if another buyer were to match the empires price, we might be willing to sell to that alternative…." He sat his cards flat on the table and directed his attention toward Marven "…Hypothetically, speaking."

"But there ain't nobody that can match ten million credits; especially after Thrawn's blitz in the outer and mid rim." The bald man retorted, setting his cards flat on the table as well.

Prin and the Talz took intently stared at her cards, oblivious to the rising tension in the room, or perhaps aware of it, and trying to play koi.

Luke decided to interject. "Perhaps…" he gave a short pause due to his head being somewhat fuzzy from the pint he had just drank, "the Hutts could match or give a similar price. They want revenge after the death of Jabba the Hutt."

The two men both looked at the Jedi.

Marv spoke first. "The Hutt families are in their death throws. They couldn't pay us a million credits if they put a mortgage down on each of their casinos!"

The man was obviously exaggerating but did drive home the point that they wouldn't or had the ability to expend the resources to match the empire's bounty. Particularly for one man, even if it was the infamous, Jedi Luke Skywalker.

 _Wow, ten. Million. Credits._

Much of the war effort had been set back at the battle of Bilbringi, and even more at the recent battle over Mustafar. If Grand Admiral Thrawn could show him to the galaxy, captured or dead, it could be one of the single most effective pieces of propaganda that the empire could create.

Luke closed his eyes in concentration. _How could I possibly convince them to give me over to someone other than the empire?_ One thing was for sure, hatred for the imperials was not enough to convince them; if he wanted to get out of this situation, would have to appeal to some other factor.

"You could trade me over to someone at a discount," Luke offered. "If you are willing to get 90 -97% of the bounty from the Hutts, the black sun, or some other organization, they could be enticed to do so with the idea that they will be able to make a profit from the imperial bounty." Luke tried to give a nonchalant shrug. "The Hutts may be able to negotiate a better price than a million credits from the empire because of their layers of protection and would be willing to except the reduced price that you are offering."

The bounty hunters exchanged looks at each other, then at Captain Marven. Marv looked around the table at the crew then sat back in his chair and took another drink of his ale. He gazed at the ceiling, deep in thought, then gave his response.

"Even a one percent reduction in price would be 100,000 credits fewer in our pockets. That's a lot of money," Marv explained, setting his cup in front of him and jammed an index finger down on the sabacc table. "Your huffing spice if you think for one minute, we are gonna take that big of a pay cut, whether we hate them imps or otherwise."

Marv leaned forward in his chair, gave a short glance around the table then started again at Luke. "Each of us here has debts up to our throats," he put his hand perpendicular to his neck. "This bounty is our chance to not only pay off out creditors but start new lives. Without this money, we will be wage slaves for probably the rest of our lives."

Luke was taken slightly aback by this but understood where they were coming from. Many people had been put in debt traps by the Hutts back on Tatooine, including Han Solo, who had only accepted the mission to take obi wan and Luke off his home planet because of his financial commitment.

"What if I could get you all work with the New Republic." Luke replied.

This time Rainer answered, "You can get contracts for a group of bounty hunters that have felonies in more than ten systems each?"

"And one of those systems is the Coruscant system for Marv and I." Prin added, resting a hand on the Ysalamir's head that lay on her shoulders.

Luke's hopes were dashed again. Even if he could get a pardon from the New Republic government for this kidnapping, there could be a myriad of crimes that would be nearly impossible to convince the judiciary to absolve them of the other crimes they have committed. Not to mention public records of their actions could get them essentially black-listed from getting contracts in the private and public sectors. On top of that, even if Luke had them pardoned, who is to say they won't go back to a life of crime afterward?

"I know it's tough to swallow but we can't afford to take a loss here. That money is our ticket out. We can't even sell the cloaking shield generator because it burns out your ships power generator after only a couple uses," Marv continued, clapping his hands together. "Now if you know somebody else that can pay ten million credits for your person, then we may consider it."

Luke sighed. _This is tough to swallow._

Captain Marvin grabbed his mug. "That's what I thought."

The Talz to Luke's left grabbed his drink and lifted it up to Luke and said something in his native tongue.

"Oui," Prin agreed, lifting her glass too. "Too Maître Skywalker; our liberator."

They all lifted their mugs and glasses to the middle and took a drink.

Luke gave a sad smile, then lifted his mug up, and took a sip of the bitter potion.

Electricity shot through Galen's body, pain coursing through every inch of him. As suddenly as it began, the painful charge stopped. He regained most of her vision in the time of the interrogation due to the carbonite freezing. Not that it was of much help, being locked in a small white room with a one-way mirror. He sat with his back against the far wall of the room facing that mirror.

The absence of the force concerned him most of all. He had full confidence that he could handle whatever came her way, but without the aid of the force, he was nearly helpless to the whims of this Captain Pellaeon.

Her arms hurt from the droid's needle. Her whole body in general ached, but he would not let this imperial stooge see it. Not for one second.

A voice came over the intercom. "I will ask again. Why were you frozen in carbonite?"

Galen smirked, "And I will tell you again, I DON'T KNOW."

The room was silent for several minutes. The silence was excruciating, almost as painful as many of the other torture methods. Left to his thoughts. Was he going to die here? How long would they keep up the torture before they let him rest? Would he be allowed to rest? Would they just keep torturing her until she gave in or died? Where was Juno? He hadn't heard her voice since the initial unfreezing process.

"Galen Marek." Came a calm, lightly accented voice over the intercom.

"Grand Admiral Thrawn," Galen replied, keeping his posture straight and fists clinched. This man was the one that had had him thawed and the imperial that had taken Juno.

"Would you like to talk face to face?"

Galen was thrown off-guard by the question. "Ah…. Y-y-yes." He replied Stumbling for words.

A door opened to the room, inside came a tall, blue skinned man with red glowing eyes. He dawned the uniform of a grand admiral and walked with a cane. Behind him came a young imperial officer with two metal chairs in either hand. The blue alien stopped in the center of the room, waiting for the young officer to place the seats across from one another.

Thrawn gestured with his right hand toward one of the seats. "Please," he said.

Galen slowly stood up and hobbled to the seat, arms and hands cuffed together. They both sat.

"How gracious of you to see me Grand Admiral." He said sardonically.

"It was no trouble," Thrawn retorted, "after all, your presence here is most interesting." He held the cane with both hands in front of him.

Marek eyed this blue alien. "Why are you here? Why is the force not in this place?"

Thrawn gave a small smile. "Besides your name being Galen Marek, I'm afraid that we know almost nothing about you. Who are you? What are you doing frozen in carbonite? What is your significance to Lord Vader?"

Galen searched his memory. The last thing he remembered was his battle with Vader and the emperor on the not yet completed Death Star. He had thought, surely, he would be dead. He was here now, sitting in front of this Grand Admiral.

"I don't know."

Thrawn's face hardened. "Don't lie to me," He said with ice in his voice.

Galen remained silent.

Thrawn studied him for several seconds, then pulled himself up by his cane. "Very well. I'm sure Juno Eclipse will be willing to tell us what we want to know…." He began for the exit. "…after we introduce her to our interrogator droids, of course."

"No!" he exclaimed throwing his shackled hands up. "Don't hurt her!"

Thrawn stopped just before he came to the exit hatch. "Oh?"

Galen fell to his knees in front of Thrawn. "I will tell you anything you want to know. Just please do not harm her."

The chiss turned around, eyeing starkiller up and down. "How can I be certain you are telling the truth? You might feed me misinformation. What assurances do I have?"

Galen desperately searched for answers. "I-I- will do whatever you ask," He repeated, "I will give you information on the rebels!"

"And what could you tell us that we don't already know?" Thrawn asked, lifting a hand invitingly for him to answer.

"Leia Organa and Baal Organa are some of the leaders! Along with Mon Mothma, Garm Iblis, and several others." Marek said, feeling surprised at himself for coming forward so quickly with the information.

"This information is common knowledge and outdated at that." Thrawn responded.

Galen felt panic come over him. He could handle the torture, but it would crush him to know that they would inflict this torment on his love.

"Vader!" Galen spit out, "I was the apprentice of Darth Vader. I can give you information on him."

Thrawn squinted at the man. "Darth Vader, as well as the emperor have been dead for several years now. How long have you been frozen?"

It came like a meteor crashing down on him. _Vader and the emperor are dead?_ _How in the hell could they be dead?_

"Anything else?" Thrawn asked, looking almost tired of the conversation.

Galen tried his hardest to think of some bit of knowledge that could save Juno. He had to save Juno.

"Well, I suppose we have no use for you then. Hopefully Miss Eclipse will be more forthcoming." Thrawn strode over to the door.

"Wait!" He yelled, reaching out with one hand. He swallowed, "I killed several Jedi, my code name was 'starkiller'" Galen let out, "if you let Juno go, I will do your whatever you wish.

Thrawn eyes flickered, turning his whole body to the young man. "It would seem, we might have a use for you after all."


	9. Chapter 8

Chapter 8

She hobbled slowly behind three stormtroopers marching down the corridor, several more behind her. After the four-hour torture session, coming up high and dry of any information that she could have possibly given them, the imps ordered her back to her room. Fortunately, they loosened the ankle restraints a bit so that she could move more freely; apparently none of the stormtroopers were amused enough by her slow shuffle to extend their travel time by dozens of minutes. Even Captain Pellaeon didn't seem as amused anymore by her restrained movement.

When placing the muzzle back on Ahsoka, Pellaeon's demeanor showed that he was placing the mouth restraint as a genuine attempt to have peace and quiet, rather than a way to degrade her. Ahsoka took no time retorting the interrogator's questions with humor; something that they, as well as this captain, were tired of hearing. She wouldn't give them the satisfaction of thinking they broke her. Not. For. One. Minute.

Gilad marched behind her, hand on his blaster. They were almost to the main elevator, when the sound of a comm ringing came from the gray-haired captain's belt.

Pellaeon put the comm to his mouth, "Yes, Lieutenant Tschel?"

"Captain, we have a communication for you. It is urgent." The young bridge officer replied.

Ahsoka's ears perked.

A slow breath purged the captain's lips, just before the click of the short-range comm. "Can it wait until the prisoner is taken back to her holding cell?"

Ahsoka guessed that Captain Pellaeon had gotten thoroughly chewed out for his fruitless inquiry, or perhaps the aged captain was simply too impatient for his own good. During the clone wars, her Master was especially frustrated when he performed tasks that failed to reach completion in the exceptionally short time frame he had expected. Ahsoka's sense of humor often lightened Master Skywalker's mood when he was frustrated, as his lightened hers. Her remarks seemed to only stoke this imp's irritation. _Captain Pellaeon, you haven't seen anything yet._

After a few long seconds, Lt. Tschel came back over the comm. "There are bounty hunters that have hailed us. They claim to have captured Jedi Master Skywalker."

Ahsoka missed a step. The stormtrooper behind her jutted his blaster into her back. "Keep moving," the imperial ordered. She complied.

 _Jedi Master Skywalker? Captured? Is it Anakin? No. It couldn't be Ani_. The last time she had seen him, her dawned the mask of a Sith lord, yellow eyes burning with such hate that the man could hardly be recognized as her former master. Shortly after the battle on Lothal, she had met the lord Darth Vader for the final time. She tried to hold her own, but she was overwhelmed by her former master's power. The last thing she remembered before waking up from her carbonite sleep, was being jettisoned into space, the lord Vader putting her through a transparasteel window on the super star destroyer the _Executor._

If this wasn't Anakin, who could it be? _Is it a relative of Anakin's? A son or daughter perhaps? A wife?_ Ahsoka's mind raced to think of all the possible scenarios that could be happening right now with this Skywalker.

The group stopped at the doorway of the elevator.

Gilad huffed. "Alright, I will be on the bridge momentarily," he said into the comm. Pellaeon turned to a nearby trooper. "Take her back to her holding cell. I will head to the bridge." He removed the Ysalamiri from his shoulders and placed it in the arms of one of the stormtroopers.

"Yes, Captain." The soldiers said in unison.

The aged captain walked down the hall, back towards where he had come from while Ahsoka traveled with the stormtrooper escort into the elevator. The Elevator door closed in front of her while she watched Captain Pellaeon walk away.

The gray-haired captain had man a subtle error, though. He had revealed that the entire ship was not in fact entirely laden with the Ysalamiri's protective influence, only certain portions of the ship. By transferring the Ysalamiri to the stormtrooper for the squad to escort her back to the holding cell, it could be assumed that the small creature was necessary for her to be cut off from the force. Now, if she could get rid of the Ysalamiri, she could have her connection to the force. Or maybe she was clutching at straws, as it could be very likely that this Ysalamiri was just extra protection. _Why else would Captain Pellaeon bring the Ysalimir with him if they weren't blind spots, though? Either way, this is my best chance._

As soon as the doors closed, Ahsoka caught the location of the Ysalimir. Behind her to the left. Her whole body ached from the previous interrogation, but she was going to have to do this.

 _"_ Hey, keep your head straight!" a stormtrooper ordered from behind her, pushing his blaster into her back for the second time. The jab from the weapon was precisely what she had expected. With blinding speed and her wrists and ankles still cuffed together, she pivoted on her right heel and with her hands still cuffed behind her back, she grabbed the barrel of the blaster, pushing hard in the direction of the Ysalimir.

Ahsoka had assumed that the trooper would squeeze the trigger once she grabbed the barrel of the blaster from reflex. Unfortunately for her, the trooper hadn't fired the weapon. And now, she had less than two seconds before the trooper regained his balance and pushed her off him. Not to mention the other bewildered stormtroopers would rebound and most likely not take kindly to their prisoner trying to escape. In a split-second decision, she thrust her montrals backward into the trooper's neck, not stabbing him, but pinning the soldier to the back wall of the elevator

Next, she slid her cuffed hands down barrel of the blaster to the trigger. As she did so, she witnessed two of her captors' whirl around and seize her by the arms on either side. Before they could yank her off, she found the trigger of the weapon and squeezed hard with her thumb, releasing a blaster bolt that burned straight through the Ysalimir to her left as well the armor-clad man holding it.

Her connection with the force came flooding back to her. She had no time to enjoy the new perception as she was pushed to the floor by the stormtroopers whom grabbed her arms. All five of the remaining troopers piled on top of her, trying desperately to retake control of the situation. With great strain, she reached out with the force and pushed each of the troopers hard in all directions. The wail of several of the men came out as the crashed into the walls.

She was breathing hard through the muzzle. Slowly, she got up and looked at the scene. There were dents in the wall where the troopers had been flung, along with the blood of the trooper and Ysalamiri she had shot. She was alive. Now she had to get off this ship before she was found. Using the force, she broke the wrist and ankle restraints, then slid the muzzle off her face. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw one of the troopers put a hand over his wrist and press a button.

Shockwaves of electricity shot through her. She screamed with agony as the electricity filled her nerves. The trooper turned a switch and increased the amperage of the collar. "Die, Jedi," He spat.

With all her willpower she stretched out her hand and used the force to redirect the electricity out of her and sent the flow into the stormtrooper. The electricity shot out and electrocuted the man, short-circuiting the controller on his wrist.

She grabbed one of the blasters from the floor and pointed it at the remaining trooper. The man shook his head and froze at the sight of the blaster. "No! don't!" the trooper pleaded. "Don't kill me! Please!"

"Were you going to show me mercy? No! Why shouldn't I do the same for you?" she snarled, pointing the weapon at the man's face.

The trooper began to shake uncontrollably.

She contemplated for a second, then lowered the weapon. _No, even this imperial didn't deserve to be shot while surrendering._ Using her mind, she broke her electro-collar, and threw it to the ground. Then, she strode over to the awe-struck man, waving a hand in front of the man's face. "You are going to tell me everything you know. Where are we? What sector?"

The man became rigid, staring up at Ahsoka through the lenses of the stormtrooper helmet. "We are approaching Hutt space via the Kaaga Run, on route to the Galactic north."

 _Hutt space, huh?_ Ahsoka thought. If she could get to Nar Shaddaa, she might have a chance to slink away from the imperials. The moon was so heavily populated, so she could blend right in. That is, if she can get off this star destroyer in one piece.

She glanced at the elevator controls, the display indicating they were almost to the pre-designated floor. She waved a hand again. "What year is it? How long has it been since the formation of the empire?"

The trooper's head tilted in confusion, then answered. "It is ten years after the battle of Yavin, or twenty-nine years after the formation of the empire."

 _Twenty-nine years AFE!_ Her last memory before she was frozen was her final confrontation with Darth Vader after the Liberation of Lothal. That confrontation had happened around eighteen years after the formation of the empire. She had been frozen for over ten years. Ten. whole. Years!

The elevator was nearing its destination, a ring sounding as it came to a stop on the holding floor.

"Thank you, you have been very helpful." she stated, then pointed the blaster at the man, switched the weapon to stun. "Now have a nice dream." She squeezed the trigger and filled the stormtrooper with the incapacitating, blue wave. The man slumped against the wall, unconscious.

* * *

"I'm telling you; we AIN'T going to come aboard the _Chimera_ to make the exchange." Marv growled.

This bridge officer had repeated the standard procedure of prisoner transfer to the man. Luke had the impression that Captain Marven had not been expecting such a welcome when he announced that he had claimed the bounty of Luke Skywalker. Since the beginning of the process, Marv had been transferred to three different officers, each more uptight than the last. First was a corporal on the SSD _Death's Head_ , then a second lieutenant on the _Chimera,_ and now this Lt. Tschel.

"Protocol dictates that the prisoner come aboard for inspection," the young Lieutenant stated for the third time. "Then, if all clears out, we wire the credits to the respective parties who claim said bounty."

Marv rubbed his forehead, mustering up the words to convince this man to his line of reasoning.

"Look," Marv let out, "we can meet at a waypoint and make the transfer, alright?" he opened his flat hand in a gesture to signal an offer, as if the imperial could see the gesture over the audio call.

Silence came over the room, then once again, the imperial began, "Protocol dictates- "

Marv pressed hard on the mute button at his control chair, a spat a string of superlatives that sounded more like the growl of some feral animal than a response.

"Perhaps you should comply with the imperial's wishes," Luke suggested from his seat across the room.

"Shut up." the bald man barked, pointing a finger at his captive. He then impatiently pressed the unmute button on the chair.

"-who claim said bounty," Lt. Tschel finished.

"Okay, okay." Marv said with great irritation. "What if we met at a waypoint though? According to calculations, you's guys are on the edge of Hutt space. If that is the case, we can both arrive on Nar Shaddaa in just a few hours. That would be a great place to meet."

There was a pause on the communication. "How do you know we are on the edge of Hutt space?"

Prin, setting in one of the swivel chairs beside Marv gave a large grin. She had created a relatively complicated program that measured the amount of time it took for a communication to be sent and received, which was measured by Marv's com sending a code too low frequency for any human or near human to hear. Even faster than light communications weren't instantaneous and could be used to accurately predict interstellar distance. The distance of the imperial's ship could be calculated by the length of time the communication took to arrive to the receiver, which was found via the low frequency code. After this calculation was found, it was a simple matter of tracing a sphere around a 3D map of the _rough diamond's_ location and seeing where the sphere intersects a hyperspace lane. There was three such lanes, all on the periphery of Hutt space.

The twi'lek was obviously proud of her accomplishment, as well anyone would be Luke supposed. Luke was impressed with her brilliant application of so many elements together to create a tracking system with minimal resources.

"Never mind how we know; we are simply asking if we can meet on a waypoint for the exchange." Marv said slowly, trying not to explode in a fit of rage at the young officer.

"Protocol dictates that-, " Tschel began, being cut off by the frustrated leader of the gang of bounty hunters.

Marv patted his bald head, groaning with frustration. "Ayeeee, I think I'm gonna have a stroke!"

"It's ok Marven." Prin assured, "we can call back later."

"No," the bald captain said firmly.

"Why?" Rainer inquired, unfolding and refolding his hands.

"Because I say so." Marv growled, glaring at his subordinate like he was the insufferably inflexible imperial officer over the comm.

The dark-skinned human gave a sigh, then sat back in his chair. Even though Rainer was almost a meter taller than his captain, he obviously didn't want to anger Marv any more than he already was. The captain had a slight hangover, but stubbornly wanted to call the imperials, only to frustrate himself further. No one was going to argue with this man when he was like this; nobody that is, except the imperial officers.

The bald man pressed the unmute button again. The comm was silent. "Are you finished?" Marv asked sardonically.

Over the intercom, a different voice came out. "My name is Captain Gilad Pellaeon of the SSD _Chimera_. Who is this?"

Marv sat up straighter in his chair. "Greetings, Captain Pellaeon. I am Sylvester Marven, captain of the _Rough Diamond._ We have, in our possession, one Luke Skywalker. We wish to collect his bounty."

"Skywalker?" Pellaeon snorted, his tone of dripping with derision. "How, pray tell, did you take him? By our records, Skywalker is in the Corusca sector. You must be exceedingly skilled if you were able to capture the great Jedi Master Skywalker out from under the nose of the Rebel's, without altering the Empire either."

Captain Marven cracked his knuckles, trying to suppress his annoyance. "Oh, you know…. Perhaps the New Republic is too embarrassed about the kidnapping, so they are trying to keep it hush-hush."

"Indeed," Pellaeon retorted. "And how did you capture Skywalker, bottom feeder?" He spat. "Oh, excuse me. I meant bounty hunter."

Marv leaned back in his chair, taken back for a few second by the overt disrespect of the imperial on the other end. He then let out a scoff, "That Skywalker fella'? He loves being kidnapped. I think he purposely puts himself in situations to be taken." He tossed a hand in Luke's direction. "I mean, that little freak's like one of them prisoners that's been institutionalized; he doesn't feel right unless somebodies got him cuffed to something." The bounty hunter's tone matching Pellaeon's indignation with sarcasm.

Prin covered her mouth, suppressing a laugh. Luke shot a look at the purple twi'lek. She gave a sly smile. "It's alright, Maître!" she loud whispered from across the room, placing a flat palm to one side of her mouth. "I like cuffs too!" she whispered a little louder and gave a suggestive wink.

The Talz sitting to Luke's right gave an eye roll, a gesture that Luke hadn't realized was shared among that species and humans, but after short consideration, decided it was probably a signal to Prin than anything else. If so, she simply ignored them.

"Is that supposed to be funny?" Pellaeon growled over the comm, alluding to Marv's previous statement.

The bald man folded his hand in front of him. "Do you want Skywalker or not? Just send a few of your guys to inspect Master Skywalker on Nal Hutta for the tradeoff. Alright? If your men aren't sold, you can just walk away. If they see it is him, we got ourselves a trade. What do you say?" He unclasped his hands in an open gesture, a gesture Captain Pellaeon couldn't see over the audio comm.

A few seconds hung like hours. Luke sorely hoped they would reject the offer. He was wrong.

"We will meet you on Nal Hutta; we will wire you the coordinates. Some imperial agents will be there to take care of you," the gruff imperial captain said at last. With a gargle from the comm, the transmission ended.


	10. Chapter 9

Chapter 9

"What the bloody hell do you mean she didn't make it to the brig!?" Lieutenant Tschel barked, throwing his hat at the subordinate in front of him. The young officer took the smack in the face from the headgear, then fumbled to keep the hat from hitting the ground.

"I—I," the corporal stumbled, "I-I-I mean that the prisoner did not make it to the brig, Lieutenant." He held the hat nervously. "Her escort was found unconscious in elevator 1-A, five of them."

"There were SIX escorts," the bridge officer spat. "Six, after Captain Pellaeon was called away.

"The sixth was found dead, along with the Ysalamir."

Bridge officer Tschel took a step toward the officer, slapping the hat out of his hands, and onto the deck. "You mean to tell me that that retrained, Togruta woman broke free from her restraints, with a ysalamiri present to nullify her witch powers, and overpowered six storm trooper commandos in an elevator no larger than two meters across?"

The corporal stared forward, sweat beading on his brow. "Yes, Lieutenant. "the ysalamir was shot with a T-16 blaster, along with the trooper that carried it. It also seems that the other troopers were knocked unconscious by a bludgeoning force to the walls of the elevator."

The bridge officer stared at the subordinate, opening his mouth to speak, then closing it. He turned from the man and peered out of the viewport of the _Chimera_ 's command bridge, into the wild flash of hyperspace. He let out a sigh.

Lieutenant Tschel remembered the incident with the tractor beam over a year ago that led Grand Admiral Thrawn to have his subordinate killed because of the Jedi Master Luke Skywalker getting away. If Pellaeon learned of the escape of this prisoner he would no doubt fly into a rage, especially after that Ludacris call from those bottom feeder scum who claimed to have Skywalker, and the fruitless interrogation of the Tagruta. There would be floggings, possibly even deaths. All while he was placed in charge of the bridge.

 _It wasn't his fault, though!_ Lieutenant Tschel didn't matter. There was a death; a death of a stormtrooper.

Tschel would have to handle this himself, if possible. Perhaps he would be commended if he captured the Tagruta before the higher ups became aware of her escape. He would certainly be reprimanded if it seemed like he was trying to go behind the Captain's back on this issue. If only there were a way that he could search the _Chimera_ thoroughly, without raising the alarm to full alert. _A way to search every nook and cranny informally_.

"I will sound the alarm immediately. She will not get far Lieutenant." The corporal stated.

"Belay that," Tschel said softly, waving a hand at the corporal. "We must deal with this matter swiftly, however locking down the entire ship is unnecessary while we are in hyperspace. Send a private alert to Captain Pellaeon about the escape, but do not go to full alert yet." The young bridge officer glanced at a terminal, manned by a silent officer. _Five hours until we get to Nal Hutta._

"Send MSE-6-series repair droids, the mice droids, throughout the ship. Have them search for the missing Tagruta, but do not put the full staff on alert…. yet. This Tail-head from what I understand is crafty and will likely go to great lengths to evade capture." He extended an index finger toward the subordinate. "Make sure extra security is dispatched to …" he looked down at a data pad, "Galen Marek's escort. Also be sure to inform Captain Pellaeon of all this." The young bridge officer paused for a few seconds.

 _A way to search the Chimera informally._

"And call for an immediate inspection of the ship before arrival of Nal Hutta, maintenance diagnostics, the flight hanger, mess hall, and general as well as personal quarters." Tschel ordered

The corporal blinked. "Uh… yes Lieutenant." Then strode off toward the ship's intercom.

The young officer glanced around at the bridge, the other officers pretending not to listen. Gilad remembered back into his days as an ensign. A surprise inspection was not unheard of on an imperial star destroyer, but a full diagnostic as well as general inspection was almost unheard of in recent memory. It still could be called at any time though, with no formal report other than a general inspection to be listed on the records. Anxiety would fill the ship as if it were as if they were on high alert; a de facto full alert without the official report to the grand admiral. Tschel gave a sly smile. _Brilliant._

* * *

"Come on! Come on! They are about to do a ship wide inspection!" A caramel-skinned navy trooper barked, waving a hand toward an oncoming navy trooper with a similar uniform. "I can't get another stash raided again! Commandant Stout is getting rich from seizing everyone's contraband, and I will be damned if I let him have my stash for the third time!"

"I'm not the one that hoards candy bars and sells 'em out the washrooms like some damn spice dealer!" A bald, lighter-skinned female snapped back, clad in the same uniform.

"Just shut up and come!" the lady spat, holding the sliding door open for the comrade. "I hid them in a false bottom of the potted shrub on the fourth floor."

The fairer skinned woman scoffed as she walked through the doorway. "I knew you didn't buy that thing to 'spruce up the place.'"

After the two made their way through the doorway, the entrance to a utility closet slid open. Ahsoka peered out, searching all corners of the room, then dropped to the floor an E-11 blaster in her hand. _Ship wide inspection, huh?_

She walked over to a doorway marked "equipment" and pressed the key beside it. Inside the closet was filled with various coveralls worn by maintenance crew members, a few space suites, gloves and some backpacks. _Why couldn't this imperial star destroyer be filled with storm trooper uniforms? Their uniforms would make it so easy to blend in!_

She felt her montrals, then slid her hands down to her lekku. _Or maybe it wouldn't,_ she loved being a Togruta, but it did have its disadvantages in situations like she was in now. She stood out like a sore thumb and there was no way of hiding from the imperials, at least, not in plain sight.

 _How am I going to do this? I can't mind trick every person that walks past me, they might be resistant to that_. She huffed _._ She can't blast her way to the hanger, she would have every storm trooper zeroing in on her location within minutes, possibly with those Ysalimiri.

She glanced around the hall she was in and spotted a map on the wall, eyeing it closely. Evidently, she was not far from the hanger itself, which lay just a few hallways down from where she was now. There was a problem, the hall that went to the hanger was the main way to get the hanger, mess hall, and not too far from the engines and deep storage either. She would stick out like an imperial orange hat with a green bill. If she was going to make to get to a ship, she would have to find a way to remain concealed. She studied the diagram, searching for a way to get to the hanger in a less obvious route. There wasn't...at least not, through the hallways.

She looked up and locked her eyes on an air duct. It was smaller than the ducts that were on separatist capital ships, but just large enough for her to wiggle through. On ships like the _Malevolence_ , Ahsoka could practically bring an entire platoon of clone troopers through the passages. She would have to crawl through this particular conduit.

Asoka sighed. _Nothing is ever easy._

* * *

The door of the _Rough Diamond_ came down, smacking the landing pad a little bit too rough. Luke half expected to be blinded by light, as the stealth corvette that he was exiting was dimly lit. When he gazed out to the city, it had a manageable level of light, however Luke was overpowered by the stench. He blinked a few times and covered his nose.

The place was dim, a green fog covering the semi-metropolitan landscape. The buildings of the city of Bilbousa were constructed on what could only be described as a swamp that was merely up-hill. Other than around the spaceport, the city seemed to have dirt paths. There were all manner of beings here, humans, Bith, Neimoidians, droids, Ithorians, and many others.

"Master Luke?" C3P0 let out from behind him. 3P0 was held to Luke's back with a harness that he held up on either side of his shoulders like a backpack. "Is everything alright?" the automaton inquired in a worried, yet metallic tone.

Marven strode passed Luke and breathed in through his nostrils. "Smells like home!" the bald man exclaimed, putting both fists at his hips. "Let's go see if we can get a place at the Hutt's Palace. That is were everyone does their deals with the Empire."

"The Hutt's Palace? Your going to be going to the Palace of a Hutt to collect your bounty from the empire?" Luke said bewilderedly. Never in his time on Tatooine had anyone but Jabba himself ever made plans to meet anyone in his palace. _Perhaps Marv is friends with a Hutt… or is more important than it would seem._

"Nah," Rainer said from behind Luke, "the Hutt's Palace is a casino. It's the nicest one in all of this sector of Nal Hutta." Rainer stepped passed Marv and Luke. "Funny thing is, it isn't even run by a Hutt. The owner is some pirate from Sriluur."

"Name pulls ya in though, dudn' it?" Marv shot back, nudging Rainer roughly with his elbow. He then pulled his blaster out and motioned to Luke to step forward. "Okay, let's go! Prin! PRIN! Bring the lizard, won't ya?"

"Zut alors, stop yelling!" Prin shouted back from inside the ship, "You know I have the robot's hand and foot!" She waved one of 3P0's arms, the other extremities lay stacked horizontally in a duffel bag. Over her shoulder lay the Ysalimir, another clung to a nutrient frame that was held in her right hand. "Here you go, your majesty!" She thrust the nutrient frame out

Captain Marven grabbed the Ysalamir's frame, then looked Luke up and down. "Don't we have a mask or something to put on him? Skywalker's face isn't exactly something we want to be parading around Nal Hutta with a multi-million credit bounty looming over him."

One of the Talz coming out of the ship handed a large helmet to Luke. It resembled a helmet worn by those who rode speeder bikes, with a streamlined design, but looked to be fitted for a member of the Talz species. Luke looked at the alien bounty hunter that had handed the helmet to him, the Talz simply shrugging. Luke looked down at the helmet and placed it on his head. Luckily there was a chin strap that he fastened that helped to mitigate the difference in head size he had compared to the helmet.

When he looked forward through the tented helmet all Luke saw was Marv waving his blaster at Luke again in a "shoo-shoo" motion.

Luke began to walk, soon he was off the ships landing bridge, then he was walking through one of the streets of the Bilbousa. Few even took notice as Luke walked by, handcuffed and held at blaster point. Some on-lookers gave shifty stairs at the small caravan surrounding look but averted their eyes when they saw Rainer leading with his heavy blaster, with two Talz treading behind Luke with heavy blasters of their own, and Marv, the ughnaughts and Prin carrying the flanks. While walking the streets Luke saw instances of bootlegging, drug dealing, soliciting prostitution, thievery, and even a few harmless looking children pickpocketing a merchant of semi-fresh fruits. Luke could hear the robotic sound out 3P0 moving his head back and forth as they walked, the protocol droid could be heard every so often with an "oh, my!" and a "gracious me!" By the time they had reached this casino that captain Marvin was raving about, Luke was thankful that his captures were surrounding him.

They came to the large casino, large neon lights in huttese showing in the green Nal Hutta fog like the moon or perhaps white swamp gas. Luke and his escort went up the stairs of the multi-story building and entered to reveal a brightly lit place. It had a few slot machines, several sabacc tables, dice throws, and other forms of gambling. There was a bar on the far side of the wall, with many human and near humans as servers. Oddly enough, there were very few female waitresses. Many of the workers of the casino were shirtless, muscular Twi'lek, Tagruta, and human males.

As the group walked forward, a hologram appeared in front of them. The image was that of a non-distinct humanoid female, purple in color. "Greetings, Gentles," the holo said in soothing voice, bowing politely. "Welcome to The Hutt Palace. Are you here for business or pleasure?"

"Business," Marven said, nonchalantly holstering his blaster. "We'd like a reserve a private booth at midnight tonight."

"Of course," The holo gave an inquiring hand gesture. "Firstly, would you like a suite?"

Marv was taken slightly aback, then poked a finger at the holo projection. "I didn't say that. If have two, normal, mid-tier booth, that would be fine." He opened his palm and moved his hand in a sweeping motion. "Something with a droid power station, and close to the fire escape perhaps?"

"Certainly," the holo bowed again, "Booth 14-B is available and meets all these prerequisites. Playing chips can be purchased on any floor, and there is a two hundred credit minimum for each player. Pleasure, business or otherwise." The female holo said, waving a semi-translucent hand toward a chip dispensary to its right side.

Luke could hear C3P0 scoff from behind him, and mutter, "we have been captured by a big spender indeed."

Luke smiled under his helmet. Even in a grave time, 3P0 had his sense of humor.

"Capital," Marv responded to the holo-woman, clapping his hands together. "Our associate here," he pointed to Luke wearing the Talz's biker helmet," is the one we are trading for the bounty. So…" he held out a palm as if to offer a suggestion. "This… bounty isn't here to play."

The holographic woman simply stared back at the Bounty hunter. "Pleasure, business or otherwise, two-hundred credits each."

"Just pay her already!" Prin whined from outside of Luke's peripheral vision, "You can keep the two-hundred credit chips, it is not so much in the long run, aye?" She placed a hand on the Captain's shoulder and placed two-hundred credits in a chip dispensary. Two red chips fell from the machine. The other crew members did the same.

Marv rolled his eyes and reached for his pocketbook. "That's how they get you, you know?" throwing four hundred credits into the dispensary. "Always trying to bleed you dry with these little fees."

Luke smiled behind the helmet. Back on Tatooine, he could imagine his Uncle Beru saying the exact same words to an inn keeper when he traveled to the city at harvest time. This crew of bounty hunters where a peculiar bunch, it was like being back on Tatooine when he was in their presence. Luke didn't know if he was home sick or just had been too busy thinking on galactic matters to pay attention to people. Those who were at the fringes of the galaxy that did not have many options in this chaotic time. Would Luke be working for the Hutts if he had grown up a few decades later? Be on a crew of smugglers, or stealing speeders in Mos Eisley?

These weren't people that chose to kidnap, far from it. They had a boot on their throat as much as Lando had when Darth Vader had coaxed him into turning in his friends on Cloud city. Luke reflected to what Captain Marv and the crew had said to him during their card game.

 _These were ordinary people._

This crew may have criminal records and have certainly didn't hesitate when kidnapping Luke and C3P0, but they were not career criminals by choice as far as Luke could tell. They were typical Outer Rim folk that were pushed into a desperate situation and had some of the know-how to get into the Imperial Palace. Ordinary people who were now about to hand him over to the empire because the New Republic failed to look out for them.


End file.
